Companies and Investors Can Now Play their “Full Part” to Demonstrate Action on Climate Change ahead of International Agreement
Ministers of France and Peru invite Non-state Actors to Register their Commitments on UN’s NAZCA Portal
Companies, cities, regions and investors will today be able to directly register their bold climate action commitments on a new and revamped online platform as part of the growing ambition towards the UN’s climate conference in Paris. The portal showcases several inspiring initiatives within the scope of the Lima-Paris Action Agenda. The agenda is designed to catalyze public and private sector action on climate change before and after 2020, when the Paris universal climate agreement will take effect. The UN, with the Governments of France and Peru made the announcement on the final day of the Business and Climate Summit taking place in the French capital. Together these partners developed a general outline to support the collection, reporting and wide communication of private sector and cooperative climate change initiatives. The commitments, which will add critical momentum towards the new universal climate agreement in December, will be housed and showcased in an updated version of the NAZCA portal—the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action. It comes just two days after Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister and incoming President of the UN Climate Change Conference, and Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, called on businesses and investors to “play their full part” to “demonstrate their commitment to preserving our planet and promoting the transition towards a lower-carbon development model.” The call was made in an editorial published in leading newspapers including the French economic daily Les Echos; the Guardian and La Nacion in Argentina. The up-dated NAZCA portal is now ready to receive commitments from such entities and is fast becoming the go-to place where business, cities and investors can respond to Laurent Fabius’ and Christiana Figueres’ clear call to action. The online registration process – in partnership with CDP, the Carbon Climate Registry and Global Investors on Climate Change – provides a simple system for ensuring that climate commitments are registered with the UN in time for Paris. Laurent Fabius said: “These actions show that governments are not alone in their efforts to bend the emissions curve and make the world a safer place. There is a huge groundswell of support building on the part of business, investors, cities and regions. What we see here is highly encouraging and symptomatic of how that tide has turned in favor of real action on the ground.” The NAZCA portal was originally launched at COP 20 in Lima. Peru’s Environment Minister and President of last year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, said: “The Nazca lines symbolize connection, action and movement. That is what we want to reflect in the NAZCA platform, inviting the world to work together, building bridges, and inspiring action, catalyzing higher ambition now and after 2020. Since the platform was launched last year, we have seen many cities, regions, and businesses stepping forward to share information on their bold actions. I’m pleased investors can now join these groups and demonstrate how they are already funding the transition to low-carbon growth.” Alongside the new online registration process, the NAZCA portal will also be publishing investor data for the first time. This data has been provided by The Investor Platform for Climate Actions (IIGCC), which is a joint project of IIGCC in Europe, Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) in North America, IGCC in Australia/New Zealand, ASrIA’s Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), PRI, CDP and UNEP FI. Welcoming the new announcement, Christiana Figueres said: “Looking at these announcements, we see leading businesses eager to do their part and reap the many benefits the transition to the green economy offers. Governments are hugely encouraged by support of businesses, investors, cities and regions. That support grows by the day, which in turn opens space for more ambition in Paris and beyond.” Many commitments now registered on the portal are also built on the outcomes of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in September of last year. For example, the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition intends to assemble a coalition of investors to commit to decarbonize at least USD 100bn of institutional investments. Information on progress towards this goal is available on the portal. In April, more than 500 city actions were showcased via the NAZCA portal.
