Global experts, C40 cities support to IPCC climate report

Dr Cristiana Paşca-Palmer, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a member of the theNature4Climate coalition, says: “A global warming of 2°C would place many species and ecosystems with limited adaptive capacity under very high risk. Even at a global average temperature increase of 1.5°C, the risks for unique and threatened systems are high. Keeping global temperature increases closer to 1.5°C rather than 2°C, is likely to significantly reduce the negative impacts on biodiversity, especially in the most vulnerable ecosystems.”
“Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are crucial if we want to avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change on economies, societies and life. However, the 1.5°C target will not be reached based on emissions reduction alone. It is imperative that nature be part of the solution to the climate crisis, as nature-based solutions can make significant contributions to climate mitigation and adaptation by reducing emissions from deforestation and other land-use change, by enhancing carbon sinks, and by building the resiliency of ecosystems and livelihoods.”
Peter Bakker, President and CEO at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a member of the Nature4Climate coalition, says: “The IPCC report released today shows that we are on track to surpass 1.5°C temperature rise as soon as 2040 – unless we implement solutions now. If applied now, nature could help us capture over 30% of the emission reductions needed. Stopping deforestation, protecting natural carbon sinks and restoring damaged habitats – these are not concepts. These are solutions we can and must roll out today.”
“To deliver natural climate solutions at scale will require unprecedented funding and coordination. The private sector has a significant role to play in accelerating and financing these solutions. To help achieve the necessary impact, we’re working with key players in the business and NGO communities to mobilize investment in natural climate solutions. It’s time to move beyond talk. It’s time to put real money next to real solutions, and the only way you’re going to do that is to get different players from different sectors together driving towards meaningful action.”
Will McGoldrick, Global Climate Strategy Director for The Nature Conservancy, a member of the theNature4Climate coalition, says:
“The IPCC report is a sobering reminder that we’re still not on track to achieve the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement…In addition to making deep cuts to global emissions, we need to increase efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere…Conservancy studies show that carbon removal through natural climate solutions – reforestation, improving forest management, soil carbon sequestration, restoring coastal wetlands, among others – has a positive impact on emissions reduction, is cost-effective, and benefits communities struggling to adapt to the impacts of climate change…Other carbon removal options may prove important over time, but we need to make the most of the ready-made solutions provided by nature…While the report plainly shows that we need to accelerate the rate at which we reduce emissions to a scale that has no documented historic precedent, the Conservancy and many of our colleagues and partners are committed to pushing governments to create and execute ambitious policies and strategies that include natural climate solutions in addition to action in all other sectors.”
Source: Blair Fitzgibbon <blair@blairfitzgibbon.com>
C40 Cities Response to IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C
Leaders urged to follow the example of mayors and plan for precisely how they will stay within a carbon budget consistent with 1.5 degrees target Cities Leading the Way research contains examples of how cities are delivering against the 1.5 degrees target.
08 October 2018 – It is the great cities of the world where we are witnessing the necessary scale of ambition and urgency to deliver on the 1.5 °C goal of the Paris Agreement, according to Executive Director of C40 Cities, Mark Watts. He was responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.
“Since December 2015 it has been a condition of membership of C40 that by the end of 2020 each of our 96 cities will have published and be delivering a detailed plan for how they will stay within a carbon budget consistent with keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees.”
“In October 2017, Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, unveiled ‘1.5°C: Aligning New York City with the Paris Climate Agreement, the first climate action plan anywhere in the world to be specifically designed to deliver on a goal of constraining global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. Six cities – Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Oslo, Paris & Stockholm – have since followed suit, with a further 65 already committed to do so. This means there are tools readily available for cities and potentially other levels of government to use when creating a climate action plan, including our own C40 Climate Action Planning Framework and our report Cities leading the way, which contains specific examples and lessons for policymakers, drawn from these seven cities.”
“The “reality” is that the strong messages of hope associated with climate science are all associated with the multiple benefits that will accrue if we eliminate environmental pollution and start living in concert with the rest of the natural world.”
“Indeed, the reason that we are so focused on inclusive climate action at C40 – ensuring that the huge investment in shifting to a clean future benefits every citizen – is because climate change is so unfair, clobbering hardest those who did the least to cause it. Cutting emissions, on the other hand, is an opportunity to create societies that are both less polluted and more equitable.”
“The IPCC report is so powerful, precisely because it makes clear that we are not too late. Now is the moment to transform our economies; embrace low carbon technologies that will create millions of good, local green jobs; provide cheap abundant energy for all, whilst also cleaning the air that we all breathe.”