The Climate Governance Commission (CGC) yesterday released Governing our Planetary Emergency. This is a ground-breaking report which highlights that current policies are failing to address the global climate emergency, and which puts forward a platform of climate governance proposals in order to ensure more effective cooperative action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C or less.
“The world faces a deepening planetary emergency—and is on a reckless path toward runaway, catastrophic climate change—having already over-shot six of nine scientifically-identified Planetary Boundaries,” according to the Report. “Collectively, we must chart a safe and sustainable path for a workable future for all of humanity.”
The report was released two days prior to the start of the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP28) taking place in Dubai, with the aim to positively influence the deliberations and decision-making at the COP.
Global governance to protect the environment
The report provides a package of fifteen near-and-medium-term proposals
“The science is clear. It is telling us that we are already living within an extinction crisis and a climate crisis. Life on Earth as we know it, and even our own survival as a species, is at risk,” says María Fernanda Espinosa, Co-Chair of the Climate Governance Commission and President of the UN General Assembly 2018-2019. “What we need is a reflection on and reconsideration of our global governance architecture, to ensure it is fit for purpose and adequate to the tasks ahead."
Climate Governance Commission Proposals
Among the near-term recommendations proposed by the Commission of experts:
- Urgent improvements of climate COPs for delivery, action, and accountability to focus, reconfigure, and streamline the annual conference, currently expected to attract more than 70,000 delegates in its 28th year.
- The declaration of a “planetary emergency” by the UN General Assembly at next year’s Summit of the Future, as well as the activation of an Emergency Platform, elaborating on a proposal by the UN Secretary-General.
- A Grand Bargain among the “Big Four” GHG-emitting nations (China, the U.S., India, and the EU), joined by other high-emission nations.
- Establishment of institutional infrastructures to evaluate the climate performance of goods and companies, and for the responsible engagement by and accountability of fossil fuel companies, executives, and associations.
- Renewed efforts to bridge the great climate finance divide, including through debt forgiveness, reforms to multilateral development banks, and balanced global carbon taxes and tariffs to fund climate mitigation and adaptation in low and middle-income countries.
“We stand at the cusp of a green energy transformation, poised to shape a fairer, cleaner, healthier future. The means to finance the climate action we need to see are within reach, but it is good governance that holds the key,” says Mary Robinson, Commission co-chair, former President of Ireland and Chair of The Elders.
Advocating for change
The Commission will form diverse, high-level working groups to refine its recommendations and advocate for their associated transformations. This will be done in conjunction with Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA) a new global alliance the Climate Governance Commission is establishing in partnership with the World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy (WFM-IGP) and Citizens for Global Solutions with a number of other cosponsoring organizations.
At root, it is not an environmental crisis. Humanity has created a global governance crisis,” says John Vlasto, Chair of the WFM-IGP Executive Committee and Co-founder of MEGA. “Resolve this and we can unite to live in harmony with each other and with nature.”
The MEGA platform went live yesterday - in conjunction with the launch of the Climate Governance Commission Report - and will be publicly launched in the New Year.
For more information see Governing Our Planetary Emergency: Release of the Climate Governance Commission Report.
From UNFOLD ZERO. Read more here.
