GGGI at the Climate Action Summit

With millions of people on #ClimateStrike today 20 September thanks to the movement initiated by @GretaThunberg, I am heading for the @UN #ClimateActionSummit together with my colleagues from Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Secretary-General @FrankRijsberman and Director of Strategy, @Mahamadou Tounkara. 

At GGGI we have signed up for many of the Coalitions being launched during the #ClimateWeek in #NewYork and we are ready to partner with others to further #ClimateActionNow. We therefore hope to come away from New York having agreed on concrete actions benefiting the #climate and our 33 Member Countries. 

Amongst many urgent priorities, we hope to mobilize support for the actions outlined below:

Mobilizing Support for Nationally Determined Contributions

A really important effort will be to get more countries to submit and/or revise ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (#NDCs) for the #ParisAgreement. GGGI has supported many of its member countries to develop national #greengrowth strategies that have subsequently become part of national development plans. Comprehensive green growth strategies are an excellent basis for strong and ambitious NDCs. Green growth planning also helps develop implementation plans for NDCs, or Long-Term Strategies (#LTS) for #zerocarbon by 2050.These national ambitions are translated into green #investment plans.

Currently, GGGI supports 15+ countries to revise their NDCs, develop their Monitoring, Reporting & Verification capacity (#MRVs), explore opportunities for #Article6 #carbontrading and develop long term strategies (#LTS). All key elements required under the Paris Agreement.

Mobilizing Climate Finance for the Developing Countries 

Developing countries, especially the Least Developed Countries (#LDCs), are counting on #climatefinance as a key component of their #climateaction. Successful replenishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will be necessary to maintain their commitment and we look forward to seeing many countries commit to doubling their GCF contributions at the #UNGA. Leveraging those billions with trillions from private investors, pension funds, insurance funds, etc., is crucial to deliver on the raised ambitions to make it happen. 

GGGI is not accredited to GCF but instead supports its member countries to gain direct access. To date 25 countries have nominated GGGI to be their delivery partner for “readiness” projects to access the Green Climate Fund. As such, GGGI has helped its members prepare 11 projects for submission to GCF with a total value of over $300M.

Overall, GGGI supports #ClimateActionNow by structuring #sustainable #investment projects and mobilizing green and climate finance for its members. During 2017-18 GGGI helped mobilize over $1 Billion in green and #climatefinance commitments for green investment projects. GGGI targets to raise $16 Bn in green and climate finance to support its members by 2030.

Mobilizing support for Nature-Based Solutions 

Recently, a new special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Land Use has highlighted the urgent need to focus on #NatureBasedSolutions. Moreover, according to a recent IUCN report despite their massive potential for tackling the #climate crisis, Nature Based Solutions such as #mangroves and #peatlands are overlooked by countries in their Paris commitments. GGGI is working in this area especially in #Indonesia but also in #Myanmar. 

Given that land is both a powerful #carbonsink and #emitter of carbon dioxide emissions (#CO2) it is important to curb #deforestation & #forest & #land #degradation as well as encourage changes to the way the world produces and consumes #food, including agricultural measures. Working on curbing #climatechange though land use solutions also have significant other co-benefits.

GGGI and important donors such as NICFI from #Norway are already working together in #Colombia and #Indonesia on curbing deforestation through #greengrowth #policy & #landuse solutions to ensure #conservation of #forests & protection of #livelihoods. However, much more can be done.