Climate Ambition Summit 2020

Source: UN News

News: The United Nations (UN), United Kingdom (UK) and France have co-hosted the Climate Ambition Summit 2020 in partnership with Chile and Italy to mark five years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

Facts:

• The summit brings together leaders from across all levels of government, as well as the private sector and civil society, to present more ambitious and high-quality climate commitments, and measures to limit global warming to 1.5C.

Key Takeaways from the summit:

• The United Kingdom has pledged to double its climate finance contribution to USD 15.5 billion over the next five years.
• The European Investment Bank has announced a goal of 50% of investments going toward the climate and environment sectors by 2025. It also called for climate finance commitments to support the most vulnerable and ambitious adaptation plans and underlying policies.
• China has committed to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65% from 2005 levels by 2030.

India’s achievements:

• India has reduced emission intensity by 21% over 2005 levels.
• Solar capacity has grown from 2.63 Gigawatts in 2014 to 36 Gigawatts in 2020.
• Renewable energy capacity is the fourth largest in the world.
• It will reach 175 Gigawatts before 2022.
• India has also set a new target of 450 Gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
• On the world stage, India has pioneered two major initiatives: (1) The International Solar Alliance; (2) Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

Initiatives launched:

• Race To Zero: It is a global campaign launched by UNFCCC to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.
• Net Zero Asset Managers initiative: It is a leading group of global asset managers that commit to support the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner, in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C

Additional Facts:

• Paris agreement: It was adopted at the UNFCCC COP21 held in Paris in 2015.It aims to keep global temperature rise in the 21st century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.