This week, the International Resource Panel (IRP) presented new work on the connections between resources and climate at the COP25 in Madrid. The IRP Summary for Policymakers “Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future” was officially launched on 11 December 2019 at an event hosted by the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea Protection of Italy.
Co-chair Izabella Teixeira and lead author Edgar Hertwich presented the results of this work at five side events. These included the Low Emissions Solutions Conference Dinner; a high-level side-event of the Emissions Gap Report hosted by UNEP and UNFCCC; a side event on scaling-up climate action through the circular economy and nature-based solutions hosted by the European Commission; the official launch event; and a side event on enhancing resource efficiency and reducing material footprint to meet climate commitments, hosted by the One Planet Network, IRP and UNFCCC.
Key messages were well received by multiple stakeholders, including the First Vice-President of European Commission, Ministers of Environment from Chile, Finland, Italy, and Norway, among others.
At the event entitled “Enhancing resource efficiency and reducing material footprint to meet climate commitments” Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP and Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP, made an important commitment. UNDP and UNEP will work together to create a “template” to include resource efficiency in the 100 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). UNDP is supporting 100 countries to accelerate the enhancement of national climate pledges by 2020.
A UN recording is available here.
