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
A car rushing along the street

The Race Is on for a Net-Zero Economy

UN climate champions have launched the Race to Zero Breakthroughs. It defines a roadmap with targets for over 20 key economic sectors, from aviation to steel production, to get to net-zero carbon emissions and slow the pace of climate change. Read more.

A car rushing along the street

The Race Is on for a Net-Zero Economy

UN climate champions have launched the Race to Zero Breakthroughs. It defines a roadmap with targets for over 20 key economic sectors, from aviation to steel production, to get to net-zero carbon emissions and slow the pace of climate change. Read more.

A car rushing along the street

The Race Is on for a Net-Zero Economy

UN climate champions have launched the Race to Zero Breakthroughs. It defines a roadmap with targets for over 20 key economic sectors, from aviation to steel production, to get to net-zero carbon emissions and slow the pace of climate change. Read more.

two girls holding up Climate Action and No Poverty cards

The People Vote on Climate

The results are in from the world’s biggest ever survey on climate change. People in 50 countries with half the human population want more action and ambition to protect the planet. Their priorities: renewable energy, electric cars and forest conversation, among others. Read more.

A boy makes a small house using plastic and debris. His home was completely swept away when Typhoon Goni hit the Philippines in November 2020.

Adaptation Demands a Breakthrough

Adaptation is urgent in developing countries to protect people from droughts, floods and other threats. At the Climate Adaptation Summit, the UN Secretary-General urged more attention—and finance. Read more. See also the 2020 Adaptation Gap Report.

Portrait of Mark Carney

Mark Carney: Investing in net-zero climate solutions creates value and rewards

In a recent interview, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney spoke about how private finance is increasingly aligned behind achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. He underlined that people everywhere should keep up the pressure in calling for climate action. Read more here.

Portrait of Mark Carney

Mark Carney: Investing in net-zero climate solutions creates value and rewards

In a recent interview, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney spoke about how private finance is increasingly aligned behind achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. He underlined that people everywhere should keep up the pressure in calling for climate action. Read more here.

Portrait of Mark Carney

Mark Carney: Investing in net-zero climate solutions creates value and rewards

In a recent interview, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney spoke about how private finance is increasingly aligned behind achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. He underlined that people everywhere should keep up the pressure in calling for climate action. Read more here.

Portrait of Mark Carney

Mark Carney: Investing in net-zero climate solutions creates value and rewards

In a recent interview, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney spoke about how private finance is increasingly aligned behind achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. He underlined that people everywhere should keep up the pressure in calling for climate action. Read more here.

Portrait of Mark Carney

Mark Carney: Investing in net-zero climate solutions creates value and rewards

In a recent interview, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney spoke about how private finance is increasingly aligned behind achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. He underlined that people everywhere should keep up the pressure in calling for climate action. Read more here.

US return to Paris offers hope

The UN Secretary-General joined US Special Envoy John Kerry in welcoming the official re-entry of the United States to the Paris Agreement.The moment was good news for the world.Read the story.

Adaptation Gap Report launch

Escalate Adaptation

Progress on adapting to a warming world requires urgent action, according to UNEP’s 2020 Adaptation Gap Report. It was released the same day as a set of leading international datasets agreeing that 2020 was one of the three warmest years on record. What can you do? Check Act Now for a virtual reality journey into choices to live in balance with nature.

Tiger cubs in Mysore, India.

Rethink Our Relationship With Nature

The One Planet Summit for biodiversity will kick off on 11 January. Global leaders will mobilize commitments to protect ecosystems and make links to human health. Check out more.

Small Island Developing States have already started trialing modular energy solutions

The Climate Promise Starts to Deliver

Countries are increasingly linking national climate plans with a green recovery from COVID-19, according to a new report tracking efforts by 115 countries to scale up ambition on climate and implement the 2015 Paris Agreement.

human development report 2020

A New Measure of Human Progress

More than 50 countries drop out of the very high human development group under a new index factoring in fossil fuel use and material footprint. It features in the latest edition of the Human Development Report, an urgent call for accounting for humanity’s immense pressures on the planet, and taking bold actions to reduce them.