Climate Action Resources
High-level Climate Action:
UNFCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)
The UNFCCC secretariat (UN Climate Change) is the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. UNFCCC stands for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Convention has near universal membership (197 Parties) and is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The secretariat organizes and supports between two and four negotiating sessions each year. The largest and most important is the Conference of the Parties (COP), held annually and hosted in different locations around the globe. This year is the 26th Conference, hosted in Glasgow.
UNFCCC: https://unfccc.int/
UNFCCC documents: https://unfccc.int/documents
Further Resources:
Paris Agreement: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf
COP26: https://ukcop26.org/
COP26 explained: https://ukcop26.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COP26-EXPLAINED-FINAL.pdf
Net Zero:
Race to Zero: Race to Zero is the UN-backed global campaign rallying non-state actors – including companies, cities, regions, financial and educational institutions – to take rigorous and immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a healthier, fairer zero carbon world in time: https://racetozero.unfccc.int/
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi): The SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that drives ambitious climate action in the private sector by enabling companies to set science-based emissions reduction targets: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/
UK SME Climate Hub: The SME Climate Hub for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) provides a one-stop-shop to make a climate commitment and access best-in-class tools and resources. The tools and resources provide support in regards to measuring your emissions, developing your climate strategy, reducing your own emissions and the emissions in your value chain, and exemplify complementary offset projects: https://smeclimatehub.org/uk/
Business Ambition for 1.5C: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/business-ambition-for-1-5c
SBT Resources:
https://sciencebasedtargets.org/resources/?p=resources
SME Climate Hub tools: https://smeclimatehub.org/tools/
Briefing
Race to Zero: Mobilising Leadership for a Net Zero Economy
Limiting average global warming to 1.5°C requires an enormous transformation of our economy and energy systems. The movement of companies, governments, countries, and cities setting ambitious net zero targets and leading this transformation is building momentum faster than ever.
In the UN Global Compact Network UK’s latest Briefing, we explain how businesses can be at the forefront of this growing movement and why it is important to continue raising ambition and take immediate climate action.
Debating Carbon Offsets - Briefing
To enable companies to make informed decisions about utilising carbon offsetting in their net zero strategies, our newest briefing explores how and why carbon offsets should be used; developments on their validity and quality; and potential benefits and limitations.
The report features insightful commentary presented by business and climate leaders:
- Oliver Dudok van Heel, Head of Client Sustainability and Environment, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Pedro Faria, Strategic Advisor, CDP
- Stuart Hayward-Higham, Technical Development Director, SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK Ltd
- Zoë Knight, Managing Director and Group Head, HSBC Centre of Sustainable Finance
- Jonathan Shopley, Managing Director, External Affairs, Natural Capital Partners
- Anna Turrell, Head of Environment, Tesco
- Dr Sally Uren OBE, Chief Executive, Forum for the Future
Download your free copy by filling out the form opposite >>>
Climate Resilience:
Race to Resilience: The Race to Resilience is a global campaign – the sibling to Race to Zero – catalysing a step-change in global ambition for climate resilience, putting people and nature first in pursuit of a resilient world where we don’t just survive climate shocks and stresses but thrive in spite of them: https://racetozero.unfccc.int/system/resilience/
UK Climate Resilience Programme: The UK Climate Resilience Programme, jointly led by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Met Office, brings together fragmented climate research and expertise to undertake robust, multi-, and inter-disciplinary climate risk and adaptation research to build UK capacity for resilience to climate variability and change: https://www.ukclimateresilience.org/
Climate Reporting and Disclosures:
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD): The Financial Stability Board established the TCFD in 2015 to develop recommendations for more effective climate-related disclosures that could promote more informed investment, credit, and insurance underwriting decisions and, in turn, enable stakeholders to understand better the concentrations of carbon-related assets in the financial sector and the financial system’s exposures to climate-related risks. https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/
TCFD Publications: https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/publications/
There are several corporate sustainability reporting standards/frameworks including:
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): https://www.globalreporting.org/
Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB): https://www.cdsb.net/
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB): https://www.sasb.org/
International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC): https://integratedreporting.org/
Last year, these institutions came together to help resolve this confusion and to show a commitment to working towards a comprehensive corporate reporting system:
Statement of Intent to Work Together Towards Comprehensive Corporate Reporting: https://29kjwb3armds2g3gi4lq2sx1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/Statement-of-Intent-to-Work-Together-Towards-Comprehensive-Corporate-Reporting.pdf
Comparing international sustainability reporting frameworks: https://irishfunds-secure.s3.amazonaws.com/1594285508-Comparing-international-sustainability-reporting-frameworks.pdf
Carbon Accounting/Scope 3:
Greenhouse Gas Protocol: Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides global standards, guidance, tools, and training for business and government to measure and manage climate-warming emissions: https://ghgprotocol.org/
GHG Protocol tools: https://ghgprotocol.org/calculation-tools
Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF): PCAF is a global partnership of financial institutions that work together to develop and implement a harmonized approach to assess and disclose the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their loans and investments: https://carbonaccountingfinancials.com/
Climate Research:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. The IPCC was created to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options: https://www.ipcc.ch/
IPCC reports: https://www.ipcc.ch/reports/
Climate Change Committee (CCC): The Climate Change Committee (CCC) is an independent, statutory body established to advise the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets and to report to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change: https://www.theccc.org.uk/
CCC Publications: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publications/
World Resources Institute: WRI is a global research organization that works with governments, businesses, multilateral institutions and civil society groups to develop practical solutions that improve people’s lives and protect nature, centred around seven global challenges: Food, Forests, Water, Energy, Climate, the Ocean and Cities. https://www.wri.org/
Other:
We Mean Business Coalition: The Coalition is a group of seven nonprofit organizations: BSR, CDP, Ceres, CLG Europe, Climate Group, The B Team and WBCSD to catalyze business leadership and drive policy ambition to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/
Carbon Trust: Carbon Trust aims to accelerate the delivery of a sustainable, low carbon economy by helping businesses, governments and organisations across the globe to reduce carbon emissions and achieve greater resource efficiency. https://www.carbontrust.com/
B Corp Climate Tools: The B Corp Climate Collective has partnered with Oxford University to curate the B Climate Tools Base, a set of tools to guide businesses on the path toward achieving net zero emissions by 2030 while taking a human-centric, climate justice-oriented approach: https://www.bcorpclimatecollective.org/tools