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The organising, informing, showcasing and commitment making at #ClimateWeekNYC is carrying on and the @ClimateCLG team will be hard at work contributing, but I'm stepping out and heading home and thought I'd jot down a few reflections 1/n
First up, it's worth noting that given a call to do more, raise ambition, face up to the climate challenge, then actors across the world have responded. 2/n
Countries have committed to raising their climate targets, they have pledged more money to fund resilience and the climate transition, they have set exit dates for coal and deadlines for hitting net zero. 3/n
But... Not everyone. The US is a clear absence, but not the only one. Generally big countries have had a lot less to say. As someone who works on climate ambition in and across Europe, I can take some comfort from a number of European pledges and new partnerships,... 4/n
... In particular it's seen as inevitable Europe will commit to climate neutrality and to raise its 2030 target soon... But not right now. There are real political challenges which explain this, but it's not what the world needs. 5/n
But that shouldn't minimise the actions and leadership that had been shown by many countries... Often smaller countries with less resources. 6/n
What about everyone else? Business, investors, cities, states and regions... Well... Wow, really. There's so much to get your head round. 7/n
From the big and visionary... The commitments by investors to align trillions of dollars with a net zero economy by 2050, the calls by companies to achieve net zero by 2030... 8/n
To the specific and practical, partnerships and programmes around energy efficiency, renewable energy, shipping, heating, cooling, resilience, biodiversity and land use... There are huge and growing efforts to build zero carbon economies and societies. 9/n
The climate movement is getting quite practiced at this. The clear logic of climate action had translated to a rising tide of commitment and delivery. And yet... It's not enough. The tipping point is close, the progress is impressive, but we need more. 10/n
Of course we know that. If we didn't before, with @GretaThunberg we have an incredibly clear and talented messenger to remind us. We need to be bigger, involve more people, affect more decisions, act FASTER. 11/n
But the progress made to date looked impossible from before. The year ahead is going to be challenging, messy and argumentative, I suspect, but it will see new breakthroughs. The real concern and growing understanding of what we need to do will not go back in the box 12/n
What else? Some random take aways... Ending fossil fuel subsidies was spontaneously raised in lots of places - there is real frustration with all the measures that still exist that are pushing us in the wrong direction. 13/n
The links between the SDGs - the UN global goals- and climate change are clear and explicit but somehow it feels like two unconnected discussions to me still. Getting there though. 14/n
Conversely the conversations about delivering this transition in the real economy and financing it feel more coherent and joined up than ever before. 15/n
And generally there is a nuance and depth of understanding about what decarbonising the economy will mean that is hugely advanced from where we were just a few years ago. 16/n
Which is most worryingly apparent in some of the depth of analysis on just how disruptive and damaging climate impacts will be. Terrifying stuff. 🙁 17/n
And finally... So many amazing, clever, lovely people, comitted to doing huge, difficult, incredible things. Inspiring. Thank you all. 18/18
