Next week, the Climate Week New York, organized by The ClimateGroup. Climate Week NYC (CWNYC) runs from September 21st to 27th and there are expected to be more than 350 events organized in NYC and around the world, both in person and online (check out the complete and updated agenda here).
This year’s Climate Week focuses on net zero climate ambition and socially just development, post-Covid-19. With all official UNFCCC and COP26 regional Climate Weeks cancelled and postponed due to the pandemic, this will be the biggest weather event of the year.
The slogan “To New York, to the World” was chosen by the event organizers to put people at the center of climate action and building a better future. The recovery of the economy, in a more socially responsible, essentially green way and with positive climate ambition are crucial conditions for leveraging the changes we need.
We are responsible for halving global greenhouse gas emissions in the next ten years. The call decade of implementation will begin with an even greater challenge: the impacts caused by the most comprehensive and devastating pandemic of our generation. The crisis that follows it, with economic recession, exacerbates the serious social and environmental problems that we already had before.
The year 2020 so far
In the middle of the year, we had the “June Momentum”, series of events that marked the need to continue giving the necessary impetus to continue the work for climate action, despite the postponement of the COP. The president of COP 25, Carolina Schmidt, reinforced a call to all governments for a sustainable transition that encompasses social impact in climate ambition.
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), made an appeal to everyone about the need to create a “normal is better”, which meets the aspirations of all peoples of the world, rather than creating a “new normal”. She also recalled the importance of continuing efforts and that the pandemic changed the way how we are working, but not the need to work for the climate.
For a green and resilient recovery, key points were raised: a) investing in green jobs; b) if it is necessary to support the automobile market, invest in electric cars; c) ending all subsidies for fossil fuels; d) including climate risks in the investment and financing decision-making process; e) the maxim “leave no one behind”, that is, consider the most vulnerable populations, especially in developing countries; and f) all countries must contribute to a joint recovery.
The campaign Race to Zero, led by the UK and Chilean High-Level Climate Champions Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz respectively, brought together heads of government, business, investors, academia and civil society to engage in largest coalition of committed leaders with one goal: to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Another initiative, the SOS 1.5, led by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and We Mean Business, was brought by CEBDS so that the Brazilian business sector also commits to increasingly ambitious goals.
What else happens in Brazil?
The country has had a especially difficult year. The economic slowdown at the beginning of the year was further exacerbated by the pandemic and social isolation. The death rate from the virus and the uncertainties about the economic and employment outlook made the scenario even more challenging.
At the same time, the shutdown of businesses and industries surprised the world with unprecedented numbers for the climate and biodiversity agenda on the planet.
It is estimated that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could fall to 6% this year –which would be the largest reduction ever recorded– thanks to the impact of the reduction in the burning of fossil fuels, responsible for two thirds of these emissions.
The sixth largest GHG emitter on the planet, Brazil has a different profile because land use accounts for more than two-thirds of emissions. In Brazil, estimates indicate that emissions could grow from 10% to 20% this year – the final number will depend on both the trajectory of deforestation in the Amazon in the coming months and the rate of economic recovery. This increase in emissions continues opposite direction not only due to the fall caused by the strong contraction of the global economy, but also due to the goals of the National Policy on Climate Change.
To the fail to meet targets of the National Policy on Climate Change for 2020, the Brazil must enter into debt in the period of compliance with their international obligations. This means that the contributions that each country defined it would make in the Paris Agreement, the so-called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), will be more expensive and more difficult to achieve in the Brazilian case.
One of the most urgent items on Brazil’s agenda is to review its NDCs, which set targets for reducing GHG emissions, to make them more ambitious. The targets set out in the NDCs point the way for governments to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and adopt greater transparency in the measures to achieve this goal. This is why it is so important that progress continues to be made, even during the Covid-19 crisis.
In 2015, the Brazil has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% compared to ten-year levels by 2025. It also indicated that it would make an additional contribution by reducing another 43% by 2030.
However, the country has not yet presented a plan to implement the NDC from 2020 onwards. The National Climate Change Adaptation Plan, which is an integral part of Brazil's Paris target, is at a standstill.
New targets must be presented, covering all sectors of the economy, and aiming for zero net emissions in the long term. By participating in the Climate Week debates, CEBDS confirms the ongoing effort of Brazilian business to reduce carbon and seek a more inclusive and prosperous economy for all.
CEBDS Efforts
A CEBDS leadership in climate, including increased climate ambition, advocacy for Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and in favor of a national carbon market, has become increasingly active over the years. With the support of the Climate Thematic Chamber and other CEBDS chambers, there is still a lot of work planned for the rest of this year, which includes technical workshops on carbon pricing and market Brazilian to serve as a basis for a regulatory framework.
O CEBDS, together with the business sector, has been acting in advocacy and other initiatives, such as the Business Sector Announcement against the illegal deforestation, which confirms that produce and preserve are not antagonistic verbs in the view of Brazilian private sector leaders. Furthermore, seeking to reduce emissions from land use becomes something especially necessary in Brazil given the high participation of these activities in total national emissions.
Historically, CEBDS has also been working towards greater transparency in financial reporting of climate-related risks and impacts, greater understanding of sustainability issues by the areas of communication, and of sustainable commitments, focusing on climate, energy, agriculture and forests, food, water It is biodiversity.
A pandemic brought many challenges and provokes reflections on how to act with increasing responsibility towards people and the planet. Works such as Covid Radar They taught us a lot about the importance of speed and vision when planning business in the midst of crises. Major systemic transformations will need to occur for the business community to reach a new Vision for 2050, in a decarbonized, circular future with a broadly revisited capitalism.
The exit from the economic crisis aggravated by the pandemic is an opportunity to adopt newThe foundations for development on the planet. A less carbonized future requires everyone’s participation and will be widely discussed during this Climate Week.
Follow the most important events of Climate Week here.
