The EBRD will call for urgent action to step up the global fight against climate change at the COP24 international conference beginning December 3 in Poland. It will be the first major climate gathering since October’s stark warning by UN scientists that time was running out for efforts to curb global warming.
The two-week talks in Katowice, Poland, are the “rulebook COP”. The aim is to determine the rules of implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement which aims to keep the average global temperature rise at “well below” 2C above pre-industrial temperatures, and to “pursue efforts towards 1.5C”.
The report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in October, called for “unprecedented” efforts to limit the rise to 1.5C, which would require “rapid and drastic reductions” to reach net zero emissions by 2050. If global temperatures continue to rise at the present rate, the report forecast that the earth’s average temperature could rise 1.5C as soon as 2030 and 3C by the end of the century, causing irreversible damage to the environment.
“The EBRD is on track with its climate finance commitments made in Paris in 2015, and together with other MDBs (Multilateral Development Banks), we are working on shaping a future in line with the Paris Agreement. This work, and the results it brings, are more acutely needed than ever,” said Josué Tanaka, EBRD Managing Director, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change.
The EBRD is a major investor in climate finance in many of the 38 emerging economies where it works, a driving force in energy efficiency projects, a pioneer in the development of renewable energy sources and an important player in adaptation to climate change.
In Katowice – where COP24 will bring together over 25,000 environment and climate change specialists from nearly 200 countries – the EBRD will report on progress in several areas in delivering its climate finance objectives.
Since 2006, the EBRD has invested more than €28 billion in almost 1,600 projects leading to reductions in CO2 emission of more than 93 million tonnes per year.
Original source: EBRD
Published on 29 November 2018
