The UK's Presidency of COP26 made progress on each of its four goals of: mitigation (reducing emissions), adaptation (helping those already impacted by climate change), finance (enabling countries to deliver on their climate goals) and collaboration (working together to deliver even greater action). Most importantly, if countries which agreed the Glasgow Climate Pact deliver on their commitments to phase down coal power, halt or reverse deforestation and speed up the switch to electric vehicles, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees is still possible. This will be critical for preventing devastating climate impacts and protecting vulnerable countries like Pakistan.
At COP26 the UK pledged £55m in financial support to Pakistan to assist with building climate resilience and tackling climate change. This support is in addition to £26.5m provided by the UK Government and £30m donated by UK citizens to provide relief following this year's devastating floods.
Having handed over the Presidency, the UK is maintaining its ambitious goals on climate change. This year the UK is launching the 'Accelerating to Zero Coalition' which will promote the use of more electric cars worldwide. The UK is also initiating the 'Forest and Climate Leaders' Partnership' to halt and reverse forest loss and will be working with developed countries to increase the availability of climate finance to countries such as Pakistan.
Development Director at the British High Commission, Islamabad Jo Moir, said the following:
This year's floods are a stark reminder of impact climate change is having on our lives. Globally, we will face more climate catastrophes, and climate-vulnerable countries like Pakistan face enormous challenges. Business as usual is not enough. At COP27 we need to make further progress on ensuring countries which have been affected by climate related disasters have the necessary tools to build-back smarter. The UK will be a leading voice on this.
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Important achievements of COP26 include: International partners mobilising over $20 billion for a just and inclusive transition from coal to clean energy. 137 countries committed to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 in the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use. The COP26 Declaration on Accelerating the Transition to 100% Zero Emission Cars and Vans brought together over 35 countries, 6 major carmakers, 43 cities, states and regions, 28 fleet owners and 15 financial institutions and investors, all committing to work together to achieve this goal. It currently has over 180 signatories. Building on the ZEV declaration, the UK will formally launch the Acceleration to Zero (A2Z) Coalition- this will comprise of a group of governments, manufacturers and businesses that will take the lead in ensuring that all new vehicles are zero emission by 2035 in leading markets and globally by 2040.
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On 2 November, as part of its Climate Finance Accelerator programme the UK announced that seven low-carbon projects from across Pakistan would receive technical support to improve their ability to attract long-term investment from financers, worth up to £148m. These projects have the potential to benefit communities across Pakistan, through clean energy access, green transportation and pollution reduction while creating jobs. The ultimate objective however is to improve the flow of much needed climate finance which will allow Pakistan to build back smarter.
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At COP27 the UK is launching the 'Forests and Climate Leaders' Partnership' FCLP- it is a core group of high ambition countries to accelerate global progress to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation. The partnership will keep the forests and land use sector high on the political agenda and more strongly linked into global climate processes and actions. The FCLP ministers will meet every year on the side lines of COP meetings.
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