LAC Climate Week Calls for Urgent, Ambitious Action

The Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week closed last week with calls for more ambition and stronger collaboration among all levels of government, the private sector and civil society. Around 4,000 people participated in the Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW) with a focus on implementing national climate plans and achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Taking place in the Brazilian city of Salvador, the Climate Week sent a message of solidarity with all the people of Brazil suffering the consequences of the rainforest fires in the Amazon region, underscoring that protecting the world’s forests is a collective responsibility, and that they are a critical part of the solution to climate change. The results of the LACCW, presented at the closing ceremony, will now be fed into the outcomes of the major Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General on 23 September in New York. LACCW is the second Regional Climate Week to be organized this year, following a Regional Climate Week in Africa in Accra, Ghana in March. A third Regional Climate Week will take place for the Asia-Pacific region in Bangkok, Thailand 2 – 6 September. Read more about the Africa Regional Climate week here, and the Asia-Pacific Climate Week here.

The technology is here

"The regional climate weeks provide a critical platform to mobilize climate action," UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Climate Action Summit, Luis Alfonso de Alba, said in a video message, underscoring the need for urgent action. "We know we need to act now to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as the report by the IPCC has made clear. To achieve this goal, we need positive action and collaboration across all stakeholders." During the high-level ministerial opening, UNEP DTU Partnership director John Christensen highlighted the importance of political frameworks that promote climate action

"We need conducive environments and regulations for Climate Technology. The technology is already here, we don’t need to wait for new developments," he said.

Pointing out that several countries in the LAC region are leading on implementing renewable energy, John Christensen pointed out the need to look at efficient solutions:

"To make climate action happen fast enough, we need to focus on energy efficiency, because we simply can't expand renewable energy fast enough to deal with the problem we have."

Transparency as key to increased ambition

Current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), are not sufficient to keep the world on track to achieving the goal of the Paris Agreement, and participants in the LACCW were part of building momentum towards the enhancement of the next round of NDCs, by 2020. The climate week also contributed building towards the COP25 in Santiago, Chile, on 2-13 December 2019. In total, the LACCW hosted 79 events including technical and thematic dialogues, workshops, side events and exhibitions. In an event co-organised by UNEP DTU Partnerhsip, UN Environment and UNFCCC, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Dominican Republic showcased how they are using improved climate transparency increase ambition, through their involvement in the ICAT and CBIT projects. LINKS

About the regional climate weeks

Organized every year in Africa, Latin America & Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific, the Regional Climate Weeks are unique collaborative platforms for government and non-Party stakeholders to address the width of climate issues. Hosted by the Federal Government of Brazil with the support of the City of Salvador, Bahia, the Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week 2019 and was co-organized by UN Climate Change, Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment, UNEP DTU Partnership, World Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank, Regional Platform for Low Emission Resilient Development Strategies, the Latin American Energy Organization, CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and International Emissions Trading Association. Registration for the Asia-Pacific Climate Week (Bangkok, 2-6 September) is open here.