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2018 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group

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The 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) will take place in Bali Nusa Dua, Indonesia, in October, following a vote by the Boards of Governors of the two institutions. The decision was formalized in 2015 when the Annual Meetings took place in Lima, Peru.

Deauville Green Awards 2018

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Images have the power to reveal, highlight, promote, explain and sometimes denounce. Deauville Green Awards aims to offer an opportunity for companies, institutions, NGOs, and communities develop actions and good practices to meet the challenge of climate change, preserve our environment and ensure the well-being of future generations.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygudEUbQkQ8]

Sony "Picture This" Festival invites everyone to share a vision for a better planet

The Picture This Festival for the Planet is looking for outstanding short films (1 min - 8 min) that have a distinctive, hopeful point-of-view, encourage viewers to make a difference, and align with the Sustainable Development Goals. It was launched by Connect4Climate's long time partners Sony Pictures Television Networks in partnership also with United Nations Foundation, We Transfer, Sony World Photography Awards, Sony Alpha Universe, and the Environmental Media Association.

Films can be produced on any kind of device or camera and all creative disciplines - from traditional shorts to animation to documentary to VR - are welcome.

In summer 2018, eight regional winners will be flown to Los Angeles to attend The Picture This Festival for the Planet for a day of networking and training alongside industry leaders and social impact partners at the Sony Pictures Studio lot, followed by a screening of the finalists’ films. Regional winners will receive airfare and accommodations for two nights in Los Angeles, along with a Sony RX0 Camera and a free WeTransfer Plus account. The grand prize winner will be honored with a Sony A6500 camera and a SEL1670 lens.

There is no fee to enter. The submission period opens January 30, 2018 and closes April 30, 2018. Winners will be announced June 2018. Entries will be judged by an array of celebrity and high-level film and social impact executives, including Megan Boone, environmental advocate and actress from the hit TV series The Blacklist; Elizabeth Cousens, Deputy Chief Executive Office, United Nations Foundation; and Andy Kaplan, President, President, Sony Pictures Television Networks.

Visit sonypicturethis.com for more information and to enter

2018 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group

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The Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) each year bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.

2017 Was Among Top Three Hottest Years On Record

In a clear sign of continuing long-term climate change caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, 2015, 2016 and 2017 have been confirmed as the three warmest years on record. 2016 still holds the global record, whilst 2017 was the warmest year without an El Niño, which can boost global annual temperatures.

A consolidated analysis by the World Meteorological Organization of five leading international datasets showed that the global average surface temperature in 2017 was approximately 1.1° Celsius above the pre-industrial era.

The year 2016 remains the warmest year on record (1.2°C above pre-industrial era). Global average temperatures in 2017 and 2015 were both 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels. The two years are virtually indistinguishable because the difference is less than one hundredth of a degree, which is less than the statistical margin of error.

2017 Was Among Top Three Hottest Years On Record

"The long-term temperature trend is far more important than the ranking of individual years, and that trend is an upward one," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. “Seventeen of the 18 warmest years on record have all been during this century, and the degree of warming during the past three years has been exceptional. Arctic warmth has been especially pronounced and this will have profound and long-lasting repercussions on sea levels, and on weather patterns in other parts of the world.”

The globally averaged temperature in 2017 was about 0.46°C above the 1981-2010 long-term average (14.3°C). This 30-year baseline is used by national meteorological and hydrological services to assess the averages and variability of key climate parameters, such as temperature, precipitation and wind, which are important for climate sensitive sectors such as water management, energy, agriculture and health.

In addition to the global warming due to rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, the climate also has a naturally occurring variability due to phenomena such as El Niño, which has a warming influence, and La Niña, which has a cooling influence. The strong 2015/2016 El Niño contributed to the record temperature in 2016. By contrast, 2017 started with a very weak La Niña and also finished with a weak La Niña.

“Temperatures tell only a small part of the story. The warmth in 2017 was accompanied by extreme weather in many countries around the world. The United States of America had its most expensive year ever in terms of weather and climate disasters, whilst other countries saw their development slowed or reversed by tropical cyclones, floods and drought,” said Mr Taalas.

WMO will issue its full Statement on the State of the Climate in 2017 in March. This report will provide a comprehensive overview of temperature variability and trends, high-impact events, and long-term indicators of climate change such as increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, sea level rise and ocean acidification. The final statement will include information submitted by a wide range of United Nations agencies on human, socio-economic and environmental impacts as part of a drive to provide a more comprehensive, United Nations-wide policy brief for decision makers on the interplay between weather, climate and water and the United Nations global development goals.

WMO uses datasets (based on monthly climatological data from observing sites) from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and the United Kingdom’s Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in the United Kingdom.

It also uses reanalysis datasets from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts and its Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the Japan Meteorological Agency. This method combines millions of meteorological and marine observations, including from satellites, with models to produce a complete reanalysis of the atmosphere. The combination of observations with models makes it possible to estimate temperatures at any time and in any place across the globe, even in data-sparse areas such as the polar regions.

Additional Information

The three conventional surface temperature data sets are NOAA’s NOAAGlobalTemp data set, Met Office Hadley Centre and Climatic Research Unit HadCRUT.4.6.0.0 data set and NASA GISS’s GISTEMP data set. They use measurements of air temperature over land and sea-water temperature measurements over oceans to estimate temperature anomalies around the globe. The reanalyses are the ERA-Interim of the European Centre for Medium Weather Forecasts and the JRA-55 of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Despite the very different approach, the estimates of global average temperatures produced by these reanalyses are in good agreement with the conventional surface temperature datasets

WMO now uses 1981-2010 as a baseline for computing Temperature variations at monthly, seasonal and annual time-scales. This replaces the 1961-1990 baseline used previously. The 1981-2010 period is also recommended by WMO to compute the climatological standard normal for operational climate monitoring as it is more representative of current climatic conditions. It allows a consistent reporting of information from satellite and reanalysis systems, some of which do not extend back to 1960, alongside with traditional data sets based on surface-based-observations managed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of the 191 WMO Member States and territories. For global average temperatures, the 1981-2010 period is approximately 0.31±0.02°C warmer than that of 1961-1990. The change in the baselines has no influence on trend analysis.

WMO uses the period 1880-1900 as a reference period for pre-industrial conditions allowing early instrumental observations to be used for estimating pre-industrial temperature conditions.

Read the relevant WMO press release here.

Source: UNFCCC

Three reasons why maritime transport must act on climate change

For years, the transport sector has been looking at solutions to reduce its carbon footprint. A wide range of stakeholders has taken part in the public debate on transport and climate change, yet one mode has remained largely absent from the conversation: maritime transport.

Tackling emissions from the shipping industry is just as critical as it is for other modes of transport. First, international maritime transport accounts for the lion’s share of global freight transport: ships carry around 80% of the volume of all world trade and 70% of its value. In addition, although shipping is considered the most energy-efficient mode of transport, it still uses huge amounts of so-called bunker fuels, a byproduct of crude oil refining that takes a heavy toll on the environment.

Several key global players are now calling on the maritime sector to challenge the status quo and limit its climate impact. From our perspective, we see at least three major reasons that can explain why emissions from maritime transport are becoming a global priority.

1. Stormy waters – the challenge of rising emissions

If the shipping industry was a country of its own, it would rank as the 6th largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter worldwide, right between Japan and Germany. While the sector’s share in global emissions is currently at 2-3%, the demand for maritime transport is soaring – and so are emissions. From 2015 to 2016 alone, the slowest year in more than a decade, the world’s fleet still grew by more than 3.5%. The result of this trend? Under a business-as-usual scenario, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) estimates that carbon emissions from shipping could increase by 50%-250%.

Evolution of GHG emissions from shipping depending on various economic growth and energy development projections. Source: Third IMO GHG Study (2014)

2. All hands on deck – the imperative of fairness

Neither international aviation nor international shipping were part of the climate change targets set under the Paris Agreement. As a consequence, these two specific industries were the only ones not included in any of the national climate action plans submitted by countries after the Paris agreement, often referred to as Nationally Determined Contributions.

Things finally started moving in 2016, when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted its Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to address carbon emissions from international flights. If the shipping sector does not follow suit quickly, its carbon emissions are forecasted to make up 10%-17% of global GHG emissions by 2050, posing a significant threat to the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global warming well below 2°C.

From a political standpoint, holding major emitters like the shipping sector accountable is also tremendously important to the overall success of climate action: If powerful industries are not required to do their due diligence, how can we expect poor and vulnerable countries to understand that they, too, should be taking action? And how can we expect certain transport modes to act pro-actively on climate when others are exempt from any obligations?

3. Setting sail – the window of opportunity

Pressure on the international maritime industry to take action has been increasing in recent years. For instance, in February 2017 the European Parliament voted in favor of including shipping in its EU Emissions Trading System from 2023, unless the IMO proposes comparable climate regulation on its own. Within this context, the IMO has committed to adopt an initial GHG emissions reduction strategy in April 2018, the year when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will also conduct its first global stock-taking exercise to measure progress on climate action. This will be followed by a revised IMO strategy in 2023. As the momentum builds, there is a clear window of opportunity to create a greener future for international maritime transport.

The World Bank is part of two global initiatives that have recently joined forces to support the shipping industry on this journey: the Sustainable Mobility for All and the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, whose work on maritime emissions is led by the University College London Energy Institute and the Global Maritime Forum. Building an alliance of progressive maritime stakeholders to explore, discuss, and evaluate the potential of possible emissions reduction strategies is key. As Roman philosopher Seneca once said: “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

Source: World Bank Group

Connect4Climate highlights of 2017

Connect4Climate looks back to 2017 and invites you to check out what we have done throughout this year. It has been a fantastic year full of many significant events and activities. We are so thankful to you and to our partners for playing a pivotal role in raising awareness on climate change and in building coalitions that amplify advocacy efforts among policy-makers, the private sector, and grassroots communities.

A heartfelt note for the Connect4Climate founder and soul, Lucia Grenna, who sadly passed away this year. Lucia will always be in our thoughts and actions.

World Economic Forum 2018 Annual Meeting

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The global context has changed dramatically: geostrategic fissures have re-emerged on multiple fronts with wide-ranging political, economic and social consequences. Realpolitik is no longer just a relic of the Cold War. Economic prosperity and social cohesion are not one and the same. The global commons cannot protect or heal itself.

Addressing Climate Change: Why Forests Matter

Forests cover nearly a third (31 percent) of the world's land surface, just over 4 billion hectares. That’s the equivalent of Brazil, Canada, China, and the United States combined.

But forests don’t just span an enormous portion of our planet’s terrain, they also play a vital role in regulating the climate and are critical to addressing the impact of climate change.

Developing countries are expected to suffer the most from changes in climatic patterns. Higher temperatures, changes in precipitation, rising sea levels and increased frequency of weather-related disasters like hurricanes, floods and wildfires are creating immense challenges when it comes to agriculture, food, and water supplies. International and national discussions on forests and climate change have largely been focused on the value of reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+). At its core, REDD+ aims to change incentive structures in favor of protecting forests.

Photo Credits: Bora Yetmoglu / Shutterstock

Less obvious, yet equally important, is the role of forests in enhancing landscape resilience to climate change. Forests and trees provide environmental services ranging from increasing water quality and quantity to reducing soil erosion and creating micro-climatic conditions that maintain (or in some cases improve) productivity. The sustainable management of forests can also strengthen social resilience, by offering a diversification of revenue sources and product supplies, and building the capacity of local and national institutions.

The World Bank is supporting countries in their efforts to harness the potential of forests to reduce poverty, better integrate forests into their economies, and protect and strengthen the environmental role they play—locally and globally.

Photo Credits: Ashwin Kumaru / Shutterstock

In China, for example, the Shandong Ecological Afforestation Project planted trees on 66,915 hectares of barren mountainous slopes and saline coastal areas, increasing forest cover, reducing soil erosion, and improving the environment and biodiversity. Thanks to positive first results, the government is now scaling up efforts and has planted an additional 84,000 hectares of mixed trees and shrubs beyond the initial program area. Combined, these areas will sequester about 22 million metric tons of CO2 over the project’s six-year lifetime.

As part of Mexico’s ambitious forests and climate change program, an initiative is contributing to improving the livelihoods of about 4,000 forest communities through sustainable management of forest goods and services. Small scale projects proposed, prepared, and implemented by communities and ejidos (communally held lands) will have access to financial support from a $42 million project (with funding made up of both a grant and a loan). Luiz Zarate is an administrative support staff member at an industrial sawmill in the San Pedro el Alto ejido, who is seeing the benefit of this initiative for her livelihood and long-term sustainability. “We know that by taking care of the forest we'll have work; and we'll have a job source for much longer. That's why it's so important for the forest to be adequately managed in the most appropriate way – so it won't run out.”

Photo Credits: Anton Boldak / Shutterstock

Across the globe in Mozambique, where the annual rate of deforestation is about 0.8 percent, 295,000 hectares of forest are lost each year. A new $47-million project is investing in the livelihoods of thousands of small and medium landholders, improving the sustainability of activities that can impact forests - including the production of timber, charcoal and crops – while simultaneously reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Mozambique’s integrated forest and landscape management portfolio also supports REDD+ efforts and the associated engagement of local communities and civil society organizations, biodiversity conservation, and agricultural development.

These country-driven initiatives are helping to move the needle in the right direction on keeping the global temperate increase within the 2-degree target and conserving forests, but more action is needed. Private sector commitment and action around deforestation free commodity supply chains will also be critical to conserve forest resources and reduce risks for businesses who rely on commodity supplies.

Photo Credits: rohitnair.photos / Shutterstock

It’s clear that forests are essential for the future we all want; for people, for economies, and for the health of a planet stressed by climate change and the depletion of natural resources. While there are still challenges when it comes to how climate and development targets will be met over the decades to come, these countries are showing that forests will be a vital part of the solution.

Related content:

2017 Global Landscapes Forum

High-Level Session Opening Remarks by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim

One Planet Summit

Paris, France

As Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon. Let me start by thanking President Macron and Secretary-General Guterres for their global leadership on climate change. It’s an honor to co-host this summit with them, to focus on increasing finance and momentum between COP-23 and COP-24.

And I’d like to thank the Government of France for continuing to strengthen the spirit that led to the Paris Agreement. Two years ago, we came together in this city and declared that climate change is a “common concern of humankind,” and we affirmed our collective determination to “respond to the urgent threat of climate change.”

We’re here at this extraordinary event to raise our collective ambitions for speed and scale. Every day, climate change becomes a more urgent economic, social, and existential threat to all countries and all people. We need investments in the trillions – not billions – to have any hope of keeping the commitments we made here two years ago. That’s what this summit is all about.

During the lunch break, many of you participated in the “Climate Agora” – a marketplace showcasing some new financing models and innovation for climate action. Multiple partners are bringing together deals with different kinds of finance in new policy and institutional environments.

Let me share four deals that were discussed:

The first deal is with Energy Efficiency Services Limited, or EESL – a company that finances residential and public sector energy efficiency investments in India. EESL has already deployed more than 275 million LED bulbs, 4.2 million LED tube lights, and 4 million street lights in municipalities throughout India. Through an innovative bulk procurement business model, EESL has driven down prices to make climate-smart LED bulbs as affordable as conventional bulbs, saving energy costs for customers. Early next year, EESL will use a 220 million dollar World Bank (IBRD) loan, combined with an 80 million dollar guarantee facility, and leverage 200 million dollars of commercial finance to deploy thousands of electric cars and charging stations and millions of smart meters throughout India.

The second deal is on Indonesia Geothermal – a Resource Risk Mitigation Facility, established by the Government of Indonesia with support from the World Bank and other partners. The Facility will provide concessional funding and grants to pool and reduce the exposure of developers in the early exploration and drilling phases of geothermal projects. With a 150 million dollar investment from the Government of Indonesia and 325 million dollars in concessional financing, Indonesia Geothermal is expected to leverage up to four billion dollars in private sector funding to develop more than one gigawatt of new thermal capacity, which is part of Indonesia’s target to add 5.8 gigawatts of geothermal power generation by 2026.

The third deal is with the new City Resilience Program – or CRP, where we’re partnering with the Global Covenant of Mayors to bring together the largest global alliance of cities committed to tackling climate change. CRP will design and structure climate resilient investments and catalyze new sources of capital to finance them. Over the next three years, the CRP will leverage 4.5 billion dollars in World Bank loans to catalyze billions in public and private capital for technical assistance, project co-financing, and credit enhancement. Essentially, the program will act as an investment banker for cities to structure programs that address their vulnerabilities to climate change. The first phase is starting with more than 30 cities, with the goal of scaling to more than 500 cities in the next decade.

The fourth deal is the West African Coastal Areas Management Program, or WACA, which targets 17 West African countries with the goal of crowding-in two billion dollars to tackle coastal erosion, flooding, and climate change adaptation. The city of St Louis in Senegal will be one of the first beneficiaries. An initial 215 million dollar package that includes 180 million dollars from our IDA fund for the poorest countries, 20 million dollars from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and nine million dollars from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) will be presented to the World Bank Board early next year. Then we expect further public and private investments will be mobilized, including, for example, financing for tourism operations.

These are just some of the deals presented at the “Climate Agora” today. At the World Bank Group, we’re working with partners to leverage all of the financial mechanisms at our disposal – concessional finance, green bonds, blended finance, and risk-mitigation instruments – to fund climate-smart projects like these, and to set the conditions to get market forces moving in the right direction.

Jim Yong Kim at One Planet Summit. Photo Credits: Ibrahim Ajaja / World Bank

Although it wasn’t highlighted at today at the Agora, we’re seeing that our interventions in the solar sector are well received by governments and by markets. A year ago we helped the Government of Zambia prepare a solar auction, which achieved some of the lowest electricity tariffs on the African continent. And the first project was just financed by the market.

Similarly, we helped the Government of Argentina to prepare its first Renewables auction, Renovar. I’m very pleased to announce that the financing for the first project closed recently. What’s needed, in many cases, is the standardization of contracts, power purchase agreements, and financing documents. Based on this experience, we’re developing similar support for renewables in Senegal, Ethiopia, Pakistan and elsewhere.

But we need to go beyond individual projects. Each of these deals has enormous potential to be scaled up and replicated. To meet the Paris Agreement objectives, we need to get to that scale.

None of these critical investments will be possible unless we get the policies right. That means creating incentives for change – removing fossil fuel subsidies, introducing carbon pricing, increasing energy efficiency standards, and implementing auctions for lowest cost renewable energy.

And we need to take an integrated view and work together. This weekend, Caribbean leaders committed to collectively define a vision for the world’s first climate-smart zone covering renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, innovative financing, and capacity building. This calls for a unique partnership between the Caribbean leaders and people, multilateral organizations, and the local and international private sectors. We’re honored to join efforts to support the Caribbean countries and help them achieve this vision.

As a global multilateral development institution, the World Bank Group is continuing to transform its own operations in recognition of a rapidly changing world. To ensure alignment of our support to countries to meet their Paris goals, today we are announcing that the World Bank Group will no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019.

In exceptional circumstances, consideration will be given to financing upstream gas in the poorest countries where there is a clear benefit in terms of energy access for the poor and the project fits within the countries’ Paris Agreement commitments.

We’re determined to work with all of you to put the right policies in place, get market forces moving in the right direction, put the money on the table, and accelerate action. That’s the only way we can meet the commitments we made two years ago, and finally begin to win the battle against climate change.

Thank you.