Leaders from high carbon emitting countries pledge to help Governments deliver on climate goals

Leaders from business, regional government, higher education, and civil society in Mexico, Japan, and the United States are joining forces to help accelerate implementation of national climate goals.

Today, over 35 Mexican entities – including the University of Guadalajara, the local government of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, the government of the state of Jalisco and the Mexican company Fortius, signed a climate declaration, committing to work hand and hand with the national government to accelerate implementation of its pledge to reduce 22% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and up to 36% with international support.

Alongside Japan and the United States, Alianza para la Acción Climática de Guadalajara – whose signatories currently represent over 5 million people — is the world’s third multi-stakeholder climate coalition to be assembled to help deliver and enhance countries’ Paris Agreement pledges.

Last month, more than 100 Japanese leaders formed the Japan Climate Initiative in pursuit of a decarbonized Japanese society. The Japan Climate Initiative took inspiration from We Are Still In, which launched in June 2017, and now includes nearly 3,000 signatories, collectively representing 170 million Americans and $6.4 trillion in U.S. GDP.

The Japan Climate Initiative and Alianza para la Acción Climática de Guadalajara are both part of a new global initiative launched today called Alliances for Climate Action (ACA), a global network of domestic multi-sector coalitions committed to supporting the delivery and enhancement of their countries’ climate goals. ACA will work collaboratively with We Are Still In in the United States to ratchet up ambition at the domestic level to achieve the Paris Agreements goals.

Patricia Espinosa, UNFCCC Executive Secretary said, “I am greatly encouraged by today’s launching of the Alliances for Climate Action. These initiatives are clear examples of businesses, local leaders, and national governments working together in what I call a new kind of inclusive multilateralism that is critical to achieving the long-term health of the planet, humanity and all forms of life. If we follow the example of these coalitions I believe we can be successful in accelerating ambition to make the Paris Agreement a reality.”

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, leader of WWF’s global climate and energy practice, said: “There’s a new face of climate leadership emerging from around the world: CEOs, university presidents, civil society and leaders from local government and indigenous communities. They are demanding climate action and partnering together to accelerate implementation in key countries. This is a global groundswell and we are all in.”

According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 2017 Yearbook of Global Climate Action (UNFCCC), current commitments made by non-State actors have the potential to at least halve the emissions gap for 2℃, and reduce the emissions gap to 1.5℃ by as much as one third, it says. But, realizing additional potential requires more participation and meaningful emissions reductions from non-State actors worldwide.

Members of the new coalition in Mexico are committed to taking action jointly to accelerate the nation’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient society, calling on other actors in Mexico to join them.

Original source: WWF
Published on 17 August 2018