Climate Solutions

COVID-19 exposed the consequences of the failure to make sufficient progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and in implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change. We would have been in a better place if we had.

We must change course, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, or we risk missing the point where we can avoid the “disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us.”

As we continue to tackle the pandemic, the enormity of the climate emergency can be daunting. What can one person or even one nation do on their own to reverse this challenge? Good news is that solutions do exist!

Climate Solutions

Media is Hope: Japanese youth, media and the UN team up for climate action

Founded in 2022 and led by a group of engaged young Japanese in their 20s and 30s, Media is Hope has already grown to more than 50 members from civil society with a mission to promote social change for larger climate action by disseminating accurate climate information, monitoring media coverage on climate change, and building bridges with media and sponsoring organizations.

Marking the Kyoto Protocol’s 25th anniversary

The Kyoto Protocol, the first international treaty to set legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, was adoped 25 years ago, on 11 December 1997, in Kyoto, Japan. 

Bertrand Piccard: Profitable solutions exist

UN Environment Programme’s Goodwill Ambassador Bertrand Piccard, who was responsible for Solar Impulse, the first successful round-the-world solar-powered flight, talks about the power of solutions and innovation to advance climate action around the world.

A photo of Ellie Goulding scuba diving in Sharm el-Sheikh, focusing on her face

Ellie Goulding: Step up and be brave

On Biodiversity Day at COP27 (16 November), the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Goodwill Ambassador, and singer and song-writer Ellie Goulding spoke about the importance of coral reefs and why more needs to be done to protect the vibrant ecosystem that sustains life under water.

A photo of Carlos Manuel Rodriguez speaking in a microphone during COP27. There is a person sitting next to him.

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez: It's in the self-interest of countries to protect nature

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, the CEO of the Global Environment Facility, talks about what to expect on the road to the UN Biodiversity Conference that will present a once-in-a-decade opportunity to usher in a new global framework to protect and conserve the world’s biodiversity.

A photo of Inger Andersen speaking seated in a conference room, in a conversation with another person

Inger Andersen: Think smartly about our footprint

Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of UNEP, discusses the importance of protecting the world’s biodiversity for climate action, and speaking ahead of the UN Biodiversity Conference in December 2022, she explains why a global biodiversity framework is more needed than ever.

Mary Robinson giving a speech during COP27

Mary Robinson: We need transformative decisions

Mary Robinson, the Chair of the Elders, and a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Envoy on Climate Change, talks about the importance of advancing gender equality and leadership in climate change response.

Jim Skea during a conference meeting in COP27

Jim Skea: Every fraction of a degree of warming matters

Jim Skea, the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group III on Mitigation, talks about advances in efforts to reduce emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere as well as what happens if the climate warms more than 1.5°C.   

A photo of Sabrina Dhowre Elba on a conference table during COP27

Sabrina Dhowre Elba: When you empower a woman, you empower a nation

Goodwill Ambassador for the International Fund for Agricultural Development Sabrina Dhowre Elba talks about the importance of investing and empowering rural communities, especially women and girls, to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Eli Mahmoud at COP27

Emi Mahmoud: See us as more than just numbers

Sudanese-American slam poet and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency Emtithal (Emi) Mahmoud talks about the importance of "representing under-represented voices" in the negotiations and decisions being made at COP27.

Andrew Harper, the Special Adviser on Climate Action, UN Refugee Agency

Andrew Harper: Don’t make decisions about us without us

Andrew Harper, the Special Adviser on Climate Action for the UN Refugees Agency, discusses the importance of making sure the voices of people who have suffered losses and damages are heard loud and clear at COP27.

 

A photo of Sanda Ojiambo, the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact

Sanda Ojiambo: Let's hold people accountable

Sanda Ojiambo, the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact explains the importance of this coalition and what it means for climate action across Africa.

 

SDG Advocate and President of Microsoft Brad Smith, in a table during a conversation in COP27

Brad Smith: Data is a piece of the solution

https://www.unsdgadvocates.orgBrad Smith, the Vice Chair and President of Microsoft and a SDG Advocate, talks about the power of data, innovation and technology to accelerate the development and use of early warning systems, making them accessible and inexpensive to all.

A photo of UN Humanitarian Chief, Martin Griffiths, visiting Banadir. He looks at a children laying on a hospital bed, together with a woman.

Martin Griffiths: Resilience has got to be the pitch that we make

Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, explains the importance of addressing climate change within the humanitarian context.

Rewa Assi: Adapting to the changing environment

In this Voices of Change interview, the Youth Representative from UNICEF MENA talks about the importance of sustainable agriculture and water management for climate action in the Middle East and North Africa region.