News and views around COP24

Read our updates from COP24

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The 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) took place in Katowice, between 3-14 December. Our experts were sharing their thoughts about what could prevent it from becoming a success and what needed to be done to keep things on track. We also considered why climate change is such an important development issue and how, from finance to forestry, social equality to school grades and data to diarrhoea, no area of policy is immune from it. Read all our updates here.

COP24 saw the convergence of global policymakers, influencers, academics, non-governmental organisations and the international community to discuss one of the most important questions of our time: how to tackle a changing climate? The issue has never been more urgent – in October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its starkest warming yet of the consequences of an unchecked rise in average global temperature.

A cross-cutting issue needs a cross-cutting response and we’ve gathered insights, experiences and opinions from our experts across policy sectors from energy to education, finance to forestry to discover, among other things, what they think were the main barriers to a successful COP24, why climate remains a key development issue and what policymakers should – and could - be doing.

The 2015 Paris Agreement enshrined a commitment to building long-term, in-country capacity to address climate change, particularly for countries with the least capacity and those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. But the 2018 Emissions Gap Report, which reviews national mitigation efforts and the ambitions countries have presented in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), shows global emissions have reached historic levels with no signs of peaking. The analysis makes clear that the current pace of national action is insufficient to meet the Paris targets. Translated into climate action, nations must raise their ambition by a factor of three times to meet the 2°C goal (and 5x to meet 1.5°C). Discover our work on governance and financing of NDCs.

Our consultants work across the globe to design, implement and evaluate policies that tackle emissions, promote clean energy and inspire community action to tackle climate change. Read more below.

Action on Climate Today (ACT) is one of our flagship climate projects, which is working across five countries in South Asia to mainstream climate change into policies and budgets to strengthen resilience in and improve climate financing options for the focus countries. ACT recognises that climate change is a cross-cutting issue, and to tackle is successfully, all levels and sectors within government need to be engaged. To strengthen institutional capacity for dealing with climate change, ACT developed an innovative framework outlining a set of characteristics that institutions should possess to effectively respond to climate change.

ACT has also shared their lessons with the Global Commission on Adaptation, contributing one of the four foundational approach papers on climate change mainstreaming. ACT is set to continue their work with the Commission and will be developing a background paper exploring domestic finance for adaptation, to be published next year.

One of five focus countries of ACT, India has been a strong proponent of climate change action. During COP24, India focused the debate on the importance of building climate resilient infrastructure, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. India’s National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM) launched a Policy Document on climate change and disaster management for the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.

Our Urban Policy and Planning team leader Dr Divya Sharma has contributed one of the chapters, outlining the issues around building climate resilient infrastructure. In the video below, Divya discusses key messages of her paper: