This year, the annual Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP24) is happening with a high sense of urgency instilled by the release of the IPCC 1.5 report. This report highlights the need for accelerated and immediate action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C, which will require reaching net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. It also sheds new light on the steps that are still within reach to achieve that goal.
During COP24 the Talanoa Dialogue will be high on government delegations’ agendas. This dialogue will offer a valuable opportunity for delegates to discuss the urgent need to do more and the measures that need to be put in place to prepare enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2020.
Long-term decarbonization strategies will also play a key role in this conversation. These strategies serve as a vehicle to enhance ambition of current and future NDCs to allow the achievement of the Paris Agreement.
About the Talanoa Dialogue
The Talanoa Dialogue (TD) was launched at COP23. This yearlong process consists of a preparatory and political phase to take stock and test options for enhanced ambition during 2018. Talanoa is a traditional approach used in Fiji and the Pacific to engage in an inclusive, participatory, and transparent dialogue. Its purpose is to share stories, build empathy, and trust, three elements that governments need to implement if the world is going to comply with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The TD asks three questions: Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? These questions are part of a process that seeks to enable participants to advance their knowledge through common understanding, creating a dialogue for better decision-making. There is also an online platform through which Party and non-Party stakeholders were able to make submissions along the three overarching questions of the Dialogue.
IDB’s climate story and Talanoa Dialogue
Given the importance to advance efforts and contribute to this global dialogue on climate ambition, the IDB submitted inputs on all three questions as a non-Party stakeholder.
In response to the Paris Agreement and the SDGs, the IDB Group Board of Governors endorsed the goal of doubling the Bank’s financing on climate change related projects to 30% by 2020. The Bank also created the new Climate Change and Sustainability Department (CSD) and have kickstarted several streams of work to provide support to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) under this agenda. Some of these streams include NDC Invest, sustainable infrastructure, deep decarbonization pathways, and stranded assets, disaster and climate risk assessment, Sustainable Islands Platform, Natural Capital Lab, among others.
At the IDB we are committed to the sustainable development of countries in LAC and to supporting the implementation of their objectives under the Paris Agreement. Our vision set up in the updated Institutional Strategy 2020-2023 is to increase productivity and reduce inequality in a sustainable way to transform LAC into a more inclusive and prosperous region. To achieve this, we have defined 3 areas of work with crosscutting priorities: climate change and environmental sustainability, gender equality and diversity, and institutional capacity and rule of law.
Furthermore, in 2017 we approved a new Climate Change Action Plan, that sets a long-term path to mainstream climate change across our portfolios to achieve a sustainable growth in LAC. This plan describes systematically how the IDB Group is including components in its operations to meet the goal of having 30% of approvals related to climate change by 2020.
The LAC region faces a complex challenge as it must become ever more competitive while successfully transitioning towards net zero emissions and resilient development paths. With financial and technical innovation at the national and sub-national levels, platforms such as NDC Invest, and work on deep decarbonization pathways, the IDBG is not only helping countries fully implement and operationalize their NDCs, but we are also supporting their efforts to engage in the ambition mechanism of the Agreement.
The IDBG will continue to put tools and mechanisms in place to effectively support governments climate efforts, seeking to catalyze actions across sectors and beyond individual and scattered projects, and into strategic approaches enabling transition towards a net zero emissions and climate resilient region and achieving sustainable development.
The international climate change agenda will continue to require ambitious policy reforms and investments to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C. At COP24 countries will work collectively to build a common understanding of challenges and solutions through participatory mechanisms. We look forward to their outcomes to continue contributing to speed up enhanced ambition, preserve our planet, and foster prosperity in LAC.
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