Implications of the 2022 IPCC Working Group III Report: Mitigation of Climate Change in Urban Programming and Action

?  Thursday 9 June 2022

⏱️ 8:00-9:30AM EDT | 14:00-15:30 CET | 19:00-20:30 ICT

JOIN HERE, NO REGISTRATION NEEDED

Passcode: 361084

You'll learn:

• About the IPCC Working Group III report, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, through a broad overview of key aspects of the report and via detailed aspects of the report regarding urban considerations.
• About the latest urban climate trends, priority city-related issues, and recommended actions to reduce GHG emissions based on interventions from experts who contributed to the IPCC report.

SPEAKERS

Bernhard Barth, UN-Habitat 
James Vener, UNDP/ UN-Habitat 
Shuaib Lwasa, Global Centre on Adaptation, Makerere University
Ayyoob Sharifi, Hiroshima University
Siir Kilkis, The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey
Peter Newman, Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute | CLA in IPCC

For further information on this event, please contact the CoP Facilitator Martin Cadena.

This event is curated by the UNDP Community of Practice on Environment in collaboration with
UN-Habitat's Climate Change Community of Practice
Join the CoP here.

Urbanization is one of the defining trends of the 21st century with close to 70% of the world’s population projected to live in cities by 2050. Cities are also the primary source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – despite only representing 2% of the global land footprint, they consume 80% of the world’s energy and emit over 70% of GHG emissions. As the critical focal point for climate action, urban areas must be front-and-center behind global goals and commitments to reduce and mitigate emissions.

In April of 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finalized the Working Group III contribution of the Sixth Assessment Report, entitled Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. The Working Group III contribution looks at what we can do to limit and prevent human-caused emissions that cause global warming. The report explores the sources of our emissions, and how they’re changing over time and indicates pathways that show how decisions taken today and in coming decades will shape our planet’s future. In concert, the Assessment Report contributions work together to inform policymakers, international climate negotiators and other stakeholders about the latest knowledge on climate change, its impacts and risks, and possible responses to achieve the ambitious Paris Agreement targets.

The new report’s analysis of global emissions considers decarbonization strategies across the highest GHG-emitting sectors, including such key questions as to how we use energy to power our homes, how sustainable our buildings are, and the materials we use to build, as well as how we travel and transport goods. A significant focus is placed on mitigation issues related to urban systems. Urban emissions are a clear area of priority, accounting for 67-72% of global emissions in 2020. Furthermore, there continues to be great inequality and differentiated responsibility for emissions in cities – “the 10% of households with the highest per capita emissions contribute 34 – 45% of global consumption-based household GHG emissions, while the bottom 50% contribute 13 - 15% percent.”  The global share of future urban GHG emissions is expected to continue to increase due to growth trends in population, urban land expansion and infrastructure and service demands.

The webinar will focus upon the three sectors – energy, buildings and transportation, which account for the vast majority of global emissions. In 2019, these sectors contributed 34% of global emissions for the energy supply sector, 15% for transport, and 6% for buildings. Further, taking into account the use of energy for electricity and heat production, the buildings sector share of emissions rises from 6% to 16%.

This webinar will disseminate the findings of the IPCC Working Group III report further within UNDP and UN-Habitat, highlight the implications of the report for the UN agencies’ programming, project development and implementation, and strengthen the foundation for joint programming of the agencies.

This Community of Practice chat builds upon the 1^st webinar on 7 April that dove into the previously released Working Group II IPCC report on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.  A survey conducted during the April webinar asked the participants: which topics would they like to see explored during upcoming webinars in the series, and the 2^nd most frequent response was on the preference to discuss the WGIII report, also with a focus on urban climate action.

The virtual exchange will bring together UNDP and UN-Habitat colleagues worldwide who are actively involved in providing urban and climate support and/or who would benefit from further knowledge in this area. Countries that are in the process of designing or implementation of urban climate action can benefit from peer-to-peer learning.

Agenda