About

A History of Experience | Transition to a Low Carbon Society | Climate Proofing Economies
Investing in a Low Carbon Transition | Powering a Low Carbon World

UNEP aims to strengthen the ability of countries to integrate climate change responses into their national development processes, both by helping them to build resilience to a changing climate, and by facilitating a transition towards low carbon societies. 

Working through the UN Environment Management Group, as well as in cooperation with key countries and other UN bodies, UNEP is promoting carbon neutrality, which it will facilitate through a carbon neutral network.

UNEP also continues to build the case for the wider environmental, social and economic benefits from combating climate change through innovative policy options, pilot projects and creative market mechanisms. Creative markets and financial incentives can play their part in overcoming barriers to low carbon technologies.

Such tools will also help to define the value of ecosystems that have a role in meeting the climate change challenge, such as tropical forests. Protecting forests will not only help to stabilize the climate but will support adaptation, protect species diversity and benefit all who rely on such ecosystem services—from subsistence farmers to multinational pharmaceutical companies and national governments.

Under the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, UNEP encourages the industrialized world to take the lead on climate change mitigation. But UNEP also maintains that the transition to a low carbon society is just as important for developing countries as for developed countries. There is no reason why developing countries should follow the often inefficient and carbon intensive development paths of the past.

Tools already exist for a more resource-efficient road to prosperity for the developing world. UNEP’s role is to facilitate the transfer and adoption of the necessary technology and expertise to areas where it is needed.

UNEP’s GEO-4 state of the environment report reveals that, globally, more than 2 million people die prematurely every year due to outdoor and indoor air pollution. The adoption of cleaner and renewable energies in developing countries can improve public health as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, it can assist in overcoming poverty by supporting the supply of sustainable and affordable energy services.

A History of Experience

For more than two decades UNEP has played a key role in United Nations efforts to address climate change and increase awareness among governments, the scientific and business communities, and among the general public.

Together with the World Meteorological Organisation, UNEP established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. IPCC assessments underpinned negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol.

In 2007, the fourth IPCC assessment was unequivocal that climate change is happening, principally due to greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity. Many of the impacts—from melting glaciers and sea level rise to water scarcity and social upheaval—are already apparent.

UNEP supports the UNFCCC process as the principle global framework for addressing climate change. UNEP will continue to support the Parties to the UNFCCC in their efforts to put in place a structure for reaching a post-2012 agreement that focuses on significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing support for adaptation activities. UNEP is supporting institutional capacity enhancement, especially in least developed countries, so they can fully participate in the negotiations.

Beyond Bali, UNEP will be working with countries towards the broader and longer term goal of moving towards a low-carbon society for sustainable development.

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Transition to a Low Carbon Society

UNEP supports global mitigation efforts by facilitating a transition towards low carbon societies by promoting more efficient energy generation, energy conservation and using cleaner energy sources, especially renewable energy.

• UNEP is building capacity in 25 developing countries so they can participate in the Clean Development Mechanism and global carbon markets. UNEP is also working with UNDP and the World Bank to expand coverage of these activities.
• The UNEP-facilitated Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development engages more than 20 centres of excellence in developing and industrialized countries to provide policy solutions for clean and efficient energy sources for the world’s poor.
• UNEP renewable energy activities include supporting the development of criteria for the sustainable production of biofuels, and ensuring that these contribute to climate, energy and environmental goals.
• The Sustainable Buildings and Construction Initiative is promoting energy efficiency in different building sectors and investigating how market mechanisms can support energy efficiency investments.
• The Sustainable Transport Programme is promoting less polluting transport systems and mobility options.
• TheRural Energy Enterprise Development (REED) initiative nurtures new, clean energy enterprises in developing countries by providing enterprise development services and early stage seed finance.

Climate Proofing Economies

UNEP assists countries to adapt to change and climate proof their economies by helping to develop new ways of thinking and planning for development using improved science, ecosystem management and development policies.

• The Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change project has enhanced the scientific underpinnings of adaptation planning in developing countries.
• In the Amazon and La Plata river basins, science-based ecosystem management is reducing vulnerability. In the Himalayas, sensitive mountain ecosystems and the rate of glacier retreat are being monitored.
• UNEP is working to mainstream climate change into the UN Development Assistance Framework and other national planning processes. UNEP and UNDP are piloting adaptation measures in eight developing countries under the One UN strategy, and are assisting the world’s poorest countries to reduce vulnerability and ‘climate proof’ economies in areas ranging from infrastructure development to agriculture and health.
• UNEP/GRID-Arendal is leading the Many Strong Voices Programme which links people in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States in assessing climate change vulnerability, developing adaptation strategies, and communicating the need for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
• UNEP is working to encourage scientists, communities and policy makers to integrate climate proofing into energy, disaster management and forest policies.

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 Investing in a Low Carbon Transition

UNEP works with a variety of government and private sector partners to promote climate-friendly investment and affordable energy solutions, and removing barriers to a low carbon economy, such as harmful subsidies and the high cost of finance.

• UNEP has worked on capacity building and awareness related to the Clean Development Mechanism since it was originally defined in the Kyoto Protocol.
• UNEP, as one of the three GEF implementing agencies, is supporting adaptation, mitigation and clean development activities in developing countries and those with economies in transition.
• UNEP is assisting financial institutions in developing countries to establish lending programmes for renewable energy. By making loans more affordable, the Indian Solar Loan Programme has helped 100,000 people acquire solar electricity in southern India.
• In the southern Mediterranean, a solar loan facility has helped thousands of Tunisian households acquire solar water heaters. A similar programme is being expanded to Morocco and other countries.
• The UNEP Finance Initiative climate change working group is mainstreaming awareness and facilitating cooperation on climate change among financial institutions.
• The Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI) provides financiers with the tools, support, and global network to conceive and manage investments in the complex and rapidly changing marketplace for clean energy technologies.

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Powering a Low Carbon World

UNEP’s strategy emphasizes the identification of new technologies and policies to provide the foundation for a low carbon economy, and working with the private sector to ensure they are made as widely available and affordable as possible.

• In eastern Africa, a $17 million GEF grant means UNEP and the World Bank can help countries overcome some of the basic technical and financial hurdles to exploit the region’s vast potential for geothermal power.
• The Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) is a global policy network to promote the rapid expansion of renewable energy in developing and industrialized countries. UNEP co-hosts the REN21 Secretariat with the German technical cooperation enterprise, GTZ.
• The Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) has mapped the solar and wind energy resources of 13 developing countries in South and Central America, Africa and Asia, and is expanding the programme to other countries.
• A new UNEP-led GEF-funded initiative is helping tea plantations across East Africa to utilize small-scale hydro electric power and to supply their national grids.
• A separate but related initiative is using waste from the sugar industry to generate electricity, fuelling economic and rural growth in an environmentally safer manner.

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