Following on from the COP21 landmark legal agreement concerning climate change, the world’s attention has now turned to realisation of the ambitious commitment to limit the global temperature rise to “well below 2 degrees Celsius”. Whilst it is recognised that this feat will require economy-wide global and national transformations – transport has a major role to play – and rail transport as the most emissions efficient major mode of land transportation can provide a key part of the solution.
The Climate Action 2016 multi-stakeholder summit will take place two weeks after the signing ceremony of the Paris Agreement, and eight months after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by all the governments of the world. In this context, the summit will serve to strengthen the multi-stakeholder approach to climate implementation. In particular, it will deepen and expand the action coalitions of government, business, finance, philanthropy, civil society and academic leaders launched at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit 2014 in New York, and since then developed through the Lima to Paris Action Agenda.
Climate Action 2016 will seek to make this broad-scale organisation of climate action both more effective and sustainable, and provide a launching pad for climate implementation in the pre-2020 period. UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux has been invited to make two interventions, at the pre-summit stakeholders workday regarding the global vision for sustainable mobility, and then at the main summit to discuss the role of international institutions.
Over the course of two days, the summit will drive high-level engagement with global luminaries addressing plenary sessions on how to deliver on climate commitments and embed the transformation agenda across the globe in government, key sectors and among the general population. At the same time, the summit will focus on convening working groups for sessions on near-term implementation actions and long-term implementation needs. These will focus on City and Sub-national implementation; Transport; Land-use; Energy; Resilience/Adaptation; and Analysis and Tools to Support Decision Making.
Effective climate implementation will require collaboration from a variety of actors. The Climate Action 2016 summit will engage approximately 700 participants, by invitation, representing leaders from government, business, finance, academia, philanthropy and civil society. Seven organisations have come together to jointly co-host the summit, providing this diverse group with the information, connections and tools they need to lead effective implementation in a new climate regime. The co-hosts are:
- H.E. Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
- Dr Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group
- Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change; Founding Partner, Compact of Mayors
- Dr Naoko Ishii, Chief Executive Officer, Global Environment Facility
- Dr Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation
- Mr Peter Bakker, Chief Executive Officer, World Business Council on Sustainable Development
- Mr Nigel Topping, Chief Executive Officer, We Mean Business
- Dr Wallace Loh, President, University of Maryland
