Climate 411

Beyond numbers: strengthening climate finance through evidence-based impact

By Juan Pablo Hoffmaister / Published: November 8, 2024

As countries discuss a new goal on climate finance at the UN climate conference, COP29, we have an opportunity to boost the impact of every dollar we invest in climate action.  

In climate finance, impact represents the measurable, positive outcomes achieved through climate action—determined by tracking specific metrics like emissions reductions, adaptation results, co-benefits, and the timeliness of fund disbursement. In a recent report on quality climate finance, we argue that we need better evidence to ensure every dollar of finance has better climate impact.  

To measure impact well, we need measurable ways to track contributions to national climate plans (called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), capture both immediate and long-term transformational change, enable learning for future interventions, and help identify scalable successful approaches.  

The evidence gap  Read More »

Also posted in Policy, United Nations / Tagged | Authors: / Comments are closed

Progress to catalyze jurisdictional REDD+

By Angela Churie Kallhauge / Published: February 2, 2024
Boat on a river in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest

Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo by Leslie Von Pless, EDF.

This blog post is authored by Angela Churie Kallhauge, Executive Vice President, Impact at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), with contribution from Katie Goslee, Director of Nature-Based Solutions, Winrock International; Stephanie Wang, Associate Director, Wildlife Conservation Society; Jason Funk, REDD+ Strategy Director at Conservation International; and Daniela Rey Christen, Director, Climate Law and Policy

In the fight against the climate crisis, high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ is intended to be transformational, giving forest communities and governments the ability to tap into the voluntary carbon market to access climate finance needed to ensure that large areas of tropical forests remain intact.

Jurisdictional REDD+ can deliver results, to the benefit of people, nature, and climate. Research shows that larger scale programs to pay for emission reductions from forest conservation – the scale of a whole forest region, state, or nation – are better able to ensure additionality and prevent leakage than are smaller-scale carbon programs. And larger scale programs do so for a longer period of time.

Ensuring high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ programs are fully functioning has therefore become a key priority for many actors working to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, including businesses, governments, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

One problem is that forest nations looking to establish jurisdictional REDD+ programs may not currently have the technical capacity needed to deliver high-integrity carbon credits. This is holding back their access to carbon markets, even as demand for high-integrity jurisdictional tropical forest credits seems poised to accelerate.

The task at hand is to support these jurisdictions in fully unlocking the promise and potential of high-integrity carbon markets at the rapid pace and large scale needed to address the climate crisis. We don’t have much time. If we don’t end and reverse tropical deforestation and degradation by 2030 – only six years from now – the effects could be irreversible.

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Also posted in Carbon Markets, Forest protection, Indigenous People, REDD+, United Nations / Comments are closed

Nature is more important than ever to realizing climate goals at COP28

By Breanna Lujan / Published: November 29, 2023
Aerial view: Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

Natural climate solutions include conserving tropical forest and ocean ecosystems. Photo: Eisenlohr, iStock

This blog was co-authored by Britta Johnston, Senior Policy Analyst for Natural Climate Solutions at EDF.

Heading into COP28, nature as a climate solution has been making headlines, and rightfully so. Sustainably conserving, restoring, and managing the world’s ecosystems is one of the most powerful tools we have to meet global climate goals.

A recent study finds that restoring global forests where they occur naturally could potentially capture 226 gigatons of carbon, and 61 percent of the carbon storage could come from protecting existing forests.

We are beginning to realize the promise of protecting forests. Another report finds that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has dropped by 22.3 percent as a result of active intervention to curb forest loss – the lowest it has been since 2018.

Moreover, advancements in policies and practices to build resilience in boreal and temperate forest ecosystems, along with strategies for mitigating catastrophic wildfire, can ensure these ecosystems remain net greenhouse gas sinks.

Oceans also have climate mitigation potential. New evidence suggests that organisms in the mesopelagic zone, a region of ocean between 200 and 1,000 meters deep containing 95 percent of ocean biomass, may trap millions of tons of carbon each year by feeding in surface waters at night and diving back down in the day.

We have better science than ever before about nature’s role as a climate solution, and signs of progress on very important fronts. That’s why nature must be at the heart of conversation and action at COP28, both inside and outside the negotiation rooms.

Read More »

Also posted in Carbon Markets, Forest protection, Indigenous People, Paris Agreement, REDD+, United Nations / Read 1 Response

Latin America’s Climate Challenge, and Opportunity

By Juan Pablo Hoffmaister / Published: October 24, 2023

This blog is co-authored by Sergio Sánchez, Senior Policy Director of Global Clean Air; Edgar Godoy, Associate Vice President of Jurisdictional Partnerships; Santiago Garcia, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Relationships Manager; and Erica Cunningham, AVP of Latin American Fisheries and Oceans.

Scene from the Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week 2023 opening ceremony. UNclimatechange via Flickr.

This week leaders and climate stakeholders from throughout Latin America are meeting in Panama to discuss climate action, and the strategies and finance needed to climate-proof the continent. It’s not an easy task in a region facing multiple challenges, from political instability to insecurity to stunted economic growth in many countries.

Climate change is already making life even more challenging for many vulnerable people in Latin American and Caribbean. Communities throughout the region are grappling with sea-level rise and extreme weather events that occur more frequently. The largely man-made destruction of natural resources, like the Amazon rainforest, will intensify the impacts of climate change, and the impact of climate change is creating further pressure in the ecosystems and their degradation. Yet enforcement of conservation efforts alone is not enough for a problem that is economic in nature.

Mitigation and adaptation strategies will look different from country to country in this highly diverse and mega biodiverse continent. However, they all share some common threads: the need for climate finance, capacity building, and technology transfer, among others.

The opportunity for climate action

A successful climate strategy for Latin America will also solve other problems. Efforts to conserve the region’s rich natural ecosystems must happen alongside efforts to safeguard vulnerable communities against climate impacts. At Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week, the region’s leaders and climate stakeholders will have the opportunity to collaborate and advance discussions on climate policies that address multiple issues for both mitigation and adaptation. Climate financing, both from rich countries and the private sector, will need to be scaled up for solutions to work.

EDF’s delegation at Climate Week will engage and collaborate with the region’s climate leaders from government, civil society, Indigenous and local communities and other stakeholders, on critical topics including clean air, forest conservation, food security, and resilient oceans and coastal communities.

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Also posted in Carbon Markets, Extreme Weather, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous People, REDD+, United Nations / Comments are closed

3 considerations for climate negotiators as they close out the first Global Stocktake

By Maggie Ferrato / Published: June 5, 2023

This post was co-authored by Julia Ilhardt, High Meadows Fellow for Global Climate Cooperation at Environmental Defense Fund. 

Flags of the world. Getty.

The first Global Stocktake – a process designed to assess collective progress toward the Paris Agreement’s goals on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance – is rapidly nearing its official conclusion at COP28.

With nearly a full year of discussions completed, the process is shifting from a technical exercise to a political one. The outcome must spur ambition in the upcoming round of national climate plans, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), due to the UN climate agency in 2025.

A successful outcome of the first Global Stocktake will point countries to opportunities for climate action that will put the world on track to meet the Paris goals.

What has the Global Stocktake told us so far?
The vast amount of technical information and literature submitted for consideration since the start of the Global Stocktake underscores what we already know. Despite progress in recent years, we’re not on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. On mitigation, for example, countries must step up the ambition of their NDCs and implement the commitments they’ve already made.

The literature also reminds us, however, that we have a wide range of tools available to tackle the climate crisis. In fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that we could reduce emissions by at least half by 2030 with solutions that cost no more than $100 per ton of CO2e. And half of these solutions actually cost less than $20 per ton of CO2e.

Opportunities for action are available across all sectors and greenhouse gases. As countries begin work on their updated climate plans, they must make use of these tools and learn from each other’s experiences.

The next round of NDCs is due to the UNFCCC in two short years, and we now have fewer than seven years left in this critical decade. The Global Stocktake should provide a springboard for action.

The political phase of the Global Stocktake is about generating outputs that help them do just that. Though negotiators have yet to decide on the final form the outputs will take, the products will summarize opportunities, challenges, lessons learned, and good practices for implementing climate solutions.

To ensure a successful first Global Stocktake, here are three things negotiators should keep in mind as the process enters its final phase:

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Also posted in Energy, Paris Agreement, United Nations / Comments are closed

Bonn climate talks: The Global Stocktake, oceans, food and nature are issues to watch

By Guest Author / Published: June 1, 2023

EDF’s delegation to the climate talks taking place in Bonn, Germany from June 5 to June 15 give us some insights into the issues they’re following. 

Flags on clear sky. Getty.

Next week, climate negotiators will convene in Bonn, Germany for a two-week negotiation session that will serve as an important marker on the road to the COP28 climate talks in Dubai this November. The outcome of the talks, known as SB58, will set the stage for the negotiations at COP28, giving us an indication of what needs to happen in the months leading up to those pivotal talks.

Every year the climate negotiations become more urgent as we draw closer to the timelines for meeting the Paris Agreement goals. The task is even more challenging when considering the other crises the world faces, like economic disruption, energy insecurity and food scarcity. We need effective solutions that can solve for these multiple challenges simultaneously. The talks in Bonn are an important opportunity to gauge progress and push forward key action points that address these various challenges, in the lead up to COP28, and beyond.

EDF’s delegation to the Bonn climate talks are closely monitoring various important issues inside and around the negotiations. These include the Global Stocktake process, food, fisheries and ocean issues, and efforts to expand high-integrity carbon market cooperation.

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Also posted in Agriculture, Carbon Markets, Forest protection, News, Oceans, Paris Agreement, United Nations / Comments are closed