The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that accelerated international cooperation on finance to support low-income countries is a critical enabler of low carbon and just transition.
IPCC disclosed this during the presentation of its Working Group III report, tagged ‘Climate change 2022: Mitigation of climate change,’ to African journalists.
The 17 chapter report noted that for low-income countries and vulnerable regions, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, increase in public grants for adaptation and mitigation may have the highest returns.
The IPCC lead author, Nokuthula Dube, who focused on chapter 15 on ‘Investment and finance’, said the report noted that mobilising diverse sources of capital from both local and international sources in tackling climate change and sustainable development is important to mitigation.
“Our assessment points to accelerated international co-operation on finance as a critical enabler of low carbon and just transition. Scaled-up public grants in the funding to tackle climate change for low-income and vulnerable regions, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, may have the highest returns.
“Meeting the $100 billion UNFCCC Copenhagen Accord on a grant-equivalent basis could support Paris aligned NDCs (national plans) integrate policies on COVID-19 pandemic recovery, climate action, sustainable development, just transition and equity in the process harnessing co-benefits towards hidden energy poverty such as clean-cooking. Close to three billion people in Africa and developing Asia have no access to clean cooking energy.”
Celine Guivarch, one of the lead authors of the report, noted that economic inequalities could be created if emissions are reduced at the speed and scale required to limit warming to two degrees or below.
“But policies can be designed to avoid increasing or even decreasing economic inequality and poverty. This entails broadening access to clean technologies and international finance. In applying just transition principles to integrate considerations of equity and justice into policies at all scales and enable accelerated mitigation action,” Guivarch said.
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The report, which is IPCC’s sixth assessment report on the impact of climate change, noted that increased public finance flows from developed to developing countries beyond $100 billion-a-year, shifting from a direct lending modality towards public guarantees to reduce risks and greatly leverage private flows at lower cost, local capital markets development and changing the enabling operational definitions, are key options to creating economic equality.
Brett Cohen, one of the coordinating lead authors, said that mitigation options are not mutually exclusive and are region and context-specific.
He said that understanding and accounting for the multiple sustainable development benefits from mitigation and the trade-offs to be considered would help in building the support base for mitigation action.
Cohen noted mitigation should be considered from a system point of view in order to optimise its benefits.
“For instance, if we are to change to clean cooking at household level, it is best if this is achieved through renewable energy. Further, mitigation efforts need to look at how various sectors and agendas such as the sustainable development goals complement each other,” the report noted.
In the chapter on ‘Agriculture, forestry and other land uses,’ Mercedes Bustamante, the lead author, said that agriculture, forestry and other land use, which contribute 22 per cent of global emissions, can provide large-scale emissions reductions and also reduce and store carbon dioxide at scale.
She noted for land-based mitigation to be achieved, the knowledge and experience of indigenous peoples and local communities are crucial as well as governance that emphasises integrated land use planning and management, anchored on SDGs.
“Well-designed land-based mitigation options to remove carbon can also benefit biodiversity and ecosystems, help us adapt to climate change, secure livelihoods, improve food and water security. Options include protecting and restoring natural ecosystems such as forests, peatlands, wetlands, savannas, and grasslands,” Bustamante said.
Another lead author, Laura Diaz Anadon, who focused on ‘Policies and renewable energy,’ said the report observed that though a lot of the decarbonisation policies that have been put in place around the world have had positive impact on innovation, technology, deployment and environmental outcomes, they also had their short-term negative impact on vulnerable and low-income groups.
“We have also found that this is something that can be avoided by designing policies in a different way or putting in place complementary policies,” said Anadon.
The report is the contribution of the Working Group III to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Cycle (AR6). It examines current trends of emissions, projected levels of future warming, and how to transition to a low carbon economy in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2100, in line with Paris targets.
The report considers trends in sectoral emissions across energy, transport, agriculture, buildings and industry, and projected warming levels based on current levels of policy commitment. The report shows how transformative systems can ensure a safer climate and a sustainable economy.
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