As Ministers prepare to take stock of the climate & development agenda at a UK-hosted ministerial meeting on 20th September on the sidelines of UNGA, a new stocktake report assesses the progress made on the agenda devised at the ministerial back March. The report was been developed based on workshops with civil society representatives from developing and developed countries.
Overall, the assessment shows that while some progress has been made, it has been fragmented and largely process based. The report summarises some key recommendations for urgent progress that could be landed and signalled around the UNGA meetings:
- Access to finance: the September UN General Assembly Meetings will be a key moment to deliver further progress on this agenda and should be seen as a deadline moment for presenting an updated concept note and draft set of principles from the Access Taskforce.
- Responding to impacts: as well as an opportunity to pledge new funds to disaster risk and adaptation finance mechanisms and sign ups to the locally led adaptation principles, dialogues in the sidelines of the UN General Assembly should be used to discuss defining the global goal on adaptation and measurement approaches. UNGA is a prime moment for the appointment of a Special Envoy on Loss and Damage.
- Quantity & quality of finance: as well as a prime moment to profile new climate finance pledges to close the gaps to $100bn per year, UNGA should be a moment for Germany and Canada to gather donor country agreement to an ambitious delivery plan. To answer the calls from the Climate and Development Ministerial, the plan should aim to surpass the $100bn per year between 2020-2025 which should be recognised as a floor rather than a ceiling.
- Fiscal space & debt: UNGA is a key moment for the G7 to deliver detail on the global finance mobilisation they proposed during their June meetings and to engage non-G7 countries for greater impact.
- Having sparked new political attention on the interlinked climate and development issues, commitments from participating ministers to continue the Climate and Development Ministerial conversation as a semi-formal process would help regularly take stock and unlock progress on priority solutions.
As the UK hosts a follow-up Climate & Development Ministerial Roundtable on the sidelines of UNGA76, these recommendations will serve as a stark reminder of the urgent action needed to unlock progress on the climate & development agenda before COP26.
The 2021 Climate and Development Agenda 6 Month Stocktake is available here.
