Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, and Mahmoud Mohieldin - UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP27 in Egypt - recently co-wrote an op-ed for SustainableViews discussing the collective shift necessary to achieve greater climate stability, security, and equality.
The High-Level Champions address the Paris Agreement’s 1.5˚C target, acknowledging how far behind we are from achieving that goal and the many consequences we are facing today because of it:
“It is easy to focus on how climate action is failing to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C. While developing countries struggle to access finance, technology and capacity-building, climate change impacts are intensifying – record-shattering heat in 2023, deadly storms in Central America, east Asia and China, a year-long drought in Africa, and more.
Staying within 1.5˚C requires us to halve emissions, build adaptation and resilience and end nature loss by 2030, and reach net zero emissions by 2050.”
Ms. Al Mubarak addressed the importance of inclusion in effective climate action:
“Overall, the process must give a voice to people on the frontlines of climate change, including the indigenous peoples who protect 80 percent of biodiversity, the farmers who produce the food on our tables, and the women who are responsible for feeding their families.”
Specifically, this challenge requires a focus on three transformative solutions, in line with the UAE presidency’s stated vision: mobilizing accessible, affordable finance at scale; fast-tracking a just, equitable transition to clean energy; and putting nature, people, and livelihoods at the heart of climate action and sustainable development.
The co-authors also highlight the importance of acting as a united front to face the current climate crisis:
“The sooner we seize on climate action as a global unifier, the faster we will secure greater stability, security and equality for all.”
Read the full op-ed by Razan Al Mubarak and Mahmoud Mohieldin in SustainableViews.