NEW DELHI: UN climate change chief Simon Stiell on Tuesday said clear and strong climate plans are an antidote to the economic uncertainty gripping the world. Addressing the 2025 Nature Summit in Panama City, he said that at a time when tariffs, trade barriers and slowing growth have been dominating headlines, robust climate policies can help get trade flowing and economies growing.
Stiell said that while global supply chains are being fractured, climate chaos will result in even more serious and sustained impacts.
"In the Panama Canal, climate change has already driven water levels lower. Slowing shipping and disrupting trade routes. For the average person, that means costs going up and less money to spend. It also means critical medical supplies delayed for those in desperate need, businesses collapsing and livelihoods vanishing," he said.
But amid all the change and disruption, he said, clean energy projects are in pipelines all around the world. "Investors have their fingers on the button, waiting to push go on multi-billion-dollar commitments that will make lives better."
Governments just need to give signals to markets and, for that, a new generation of national climate plans or NDCs are utterly essential, he said.
Stiell said that unlike in the past, when climate plans often focused mainly on cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and old-fashioned energy, the new generation of climate plans should be about growth and building a better future where nature is protected.
"Done right, these plans can attract a bonanza of benefits. More jobs. More revenue. And a virtuous cycle of increased investment. But unless it's implemented an NDC is just a piece of paper. That's why political leadership now is so important," he said.
He added that political and policy signals from almost all of the world's largest economies are very clear: global decarbonization is unstoppable and continues to gather pace and scale.
Countries like Brazil, Germany and China are stepping up with ambitious climate plans. Green technologies are growing fast and becoming cheaper, he said.
The UNFCCC executive secretary, however, warned that the world cannot afford a two-speed transition, where some countries race ahead with clean energy and climate resilience and leave others behind.
"We need to work together to ensure that everyone benefits. That new markets open and new trade routes form," he said.
Stiell said that while global supply chains are being fractured, climate chaos will result in even more serious and sustained impacts.
"In the Panama Canal, climate change has already driven water levels lower. Slowing shipping and disrupting trade routes. For the average person, that means costs going up and less money to spend. It also means critical medical supplies delayed for those in desperate need, businesses collapsing and livelihoods vanishing," he said.
But amid all the change and disruption, he said, clean energy projects are in pipelines all around the world. "Investors have their fingers on the button, waiting to push go on multi-billion-dollar commitments that will make lives better."
Governments just need to give signals to markets and, for that, a new generation of national climate plans or NDCs are utterly essential, he said.
Stiell said that unlike in the past, when climate plans often focused mainly on cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and old-fashioned energy, the new generation of climate plans should be about growth and building a better future where nature is protected.
"Done right, these plans can attract a bonanza of benefits. More jobs. More revenue. And a virtuous cycle of increased investment. But unless it's implemented an NDC is just a piece of paper. That's why political leadership now is so important," he said.
He added that political and policy signals from almost all of the world's largest economies are very clear: global decarbonization is unstoppable and continues to gather pace and scale.
Countries like Brazil, Germany and China are stepping up with ambitious climate plans. Green technologies are growing fast and becoming cheaper, he said.
The UNFCCC executive secretary, however, warned that the world cannot afford a two-speed transition, where some countries race ahead with clean energy and climate resilience and leave others behind.
"We need to work together to ensure that everyone benefits. That new markets open and new trade routes form," he said.
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