Global Climate Action from Cities, Regions, and Businesses – 2019
In September 2018, ClimateWorks supported the publication of a report at the Global Climate Action Summit, which was one of the first pieces of research that aggregated the impacts of climate actions taken by actors other than national governments. This year, we are proud to support a new report that builds on this previous work and looks at how climate commitments made by more than 6,000 cities and regions and 1,500 companies from 10 of the world’s largest-emitting economies could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.2 to 2 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) per year by 2030, in addition to the reductions planned by those national governments. These cuts amount to roughly 4% of global emissions today, but they are only possible if individual commitments are fully implemented. The 10 economies are Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States.
The report also looks at 17 high-performing international initiatives that could reduce emissions by 18 to 21 GtCO2e per year by 2030 beyond current government efforts. These reductions are equivalent to nearly one-third of global greenhouse gases. All of this potential is promising, but it will only be achieved with substantial work. This 2019 assessment aims to inform the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit on September 23, which calls on leaders from government, business, civil society, and elsewhere to strengthen their commitments in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
This report was co-authored by a team from NewClimate Institute, Data-Driven Lab, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Blavatnik School of Government, and University of Oxford. It is part of ClimateWorks’ ongoing support and partnership with Mission 2020, The Climate Group, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, which convenes several working groups and workshops to discuss Climate Action Methodology, Data, and Analysis (CAMDA) to assess and support climate action from actors aside from national governments (states, regions, cities, businesses, and investors).
