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This technical document aims to present the impacts of climate change upon urban water, particularly upon the performance of the urban water supply, wastewater and storm water infrastructure, through compiling existing studies on climate change and water resources. This vulnerability assessment of urban water resources is designed to help identifying urban communities who will be most affected by climate change and, as a long term plan, to draw strategic views on how water utilities can be planned properly to cope with the likely changes. The findings of this vulnerability assessment can be used to develop Integrated Urban Water Management planning in the country.

This activity report introduces the new headquarters of both the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHABITAT) in Nairobi, presenting it as a a sustainable building showcase. With 6,000 square metres of solar panels, energy saving lighting, natural ventilation systems and other green features, the office is designed to generate as much electricity as its 1,200 occupants consume. Given that the building sector is the single largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions with one third of global energy use taking place in offices and homes, the design and construction of new buildings – and the refitting of existing ones – represents one of the key, low cost ways of combating climate.

This activity report presents examples where the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been used in particularly successful ways to mobilise financial resources for carbon-reduction projects, while promoting sustainability in local communities in different countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. These examples of local best practice serve as a repository of what has worked well in the past and consequently serve to encourage financiers, project developers and regulators to continue harnessing CDM potentials in the future. At the same time, this study aims to provide a first and broad introduction to the CDM to commercial banks in the region not yet familiar with it.

This analytical report considers adaptation from the viewpoint of the finance sector. It describes some of the current products and services and other innovative approaches used by the finance sector to tackle climate change, such as weather derivatives and natural catastrophe bonds. However, it notices that many potential markets that could have a major impact, promote adaptation and reduce vulnerability, such as micro-finance and insurance, are not wholly commercially viable as yet, and therefore require a public-private partnership approach to provide the seed capital and skills required.

This analytical report discusses the most recent studies on the economics and cost of climate change, and the investment required for mitigation and adaptation. It highlights the crucial role played by the finance sector due to its influence in directing investment and financial flows. It also reviews what leading financial institutions are already doing to address the climate problem and what should be done to extend and deepen those actions across the entire sector. Finally, the document emphasizes the crucial role of the policy making community in setting up the regulatory frameworks that will provide the necessary long-term investment horizons and pave the way for further large-scale investment towards a low carbon economy.

This technical document includes a survey exploring how financial institutions are dealing with the energy efficiency concept and what the reasons are for a lack of dynamism in this field. It provides an evidence base that highlights the steps that private as well as public lenders and policy-makers can take to better exploit the vast potentials of energy efficiency in an increasingly energy- and carbon-constrained world.

This analytical report includes the executive summary of the report “Financing a Global Deal on Climate Change”. This focuses on the priorities identified by UNEP FI to mobilise the skills and resources of the banking, investment and insurance sectors behind an effective, efficient and equitable global deal on climate change at COP15 in Copenhagen. It also addresses the types of decisions that governments could take in Copenhagen to stimulate financial involvement.

This policy document presents an investor statement formalising the private sector’s requirement for a strong, binding framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. It stresses that clear, credible long-term policies are critical for investors to integrate climate change considerations into their decision-making processes and to support investment flows into a low-carbon economy and into measures for adaptation. It also argues that a timely post-2012 climate change agreement involving all countries and containing appropriate long- and medium-term emission reduction targets is essential to supporting investor confidence. 

This analytical report focuses on the kinds of public finance mechanisms (PFMs) needed to incentivise and scale up private sector investment. It provides an evidence base of what design features have made such mechanisms work successfully in the past. It further suggests how, with which design elements and through which institutional frameworks and mechanisms PFMs at international level could best be deployed to leverage private investment in a scale needed for the creation of a low-carbon economy.

This statement by the investment community highlights a number of critical measures that it recommends policymakers to take to stimulate investment in a low-carbon economy. These measures include emission reduction targets, policies that put an effective price on carbon, energy and transportation policies, financing mechanisms, measures and financing to support adaptation, and corporate disclosure policies.

This policy document includes a statement of the global insurance industry demanding public-private action on climate change adaptation in developing countries. The document stresses the huge potential benefits of using government action to enable the knowledge and expertise from the insurance industry to play its fullest role in risk management in developing countries, particularly those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This government action includes implementing national risk management processes and using limited government investment to measure and reduce those risks. Also available in Korean.

This policy document presents a global investor statement on climate change. It stresses that investors are concerned with the risks presented by climate change to regional and global economies and to individual assets. At the same time, they are interested in the large potential economic opportunities that the transition to a low-carbon economy presents. However, private investment will only flow at the scale and pace necessary if it is supported by clear, credible, and long-term policy frameworks that shift the risk-reward balance in favor of less carbon-intensive investment. In this document, investors call for specific policies and finance tools needed to catalyze private investment in the low-carbon economy. Also available in Portuguese.

This analytical report is a preview of “The Green Economy Report”, published in 2011. It uses economic analysis and modelling approaches to demonstrate that greening the economy across a range of sectors can drive economic recovery and growth and lead to future prosperity and job creation, while at the same time addressing social inequalities and environmental challenges.

This factsheet presents the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s strategies and activities to address climate change. The Climate Change sub-programme focuses on strengthening the ability of countries, particularly developing countries, to integrate climate change responses into national development processes. The sub-programme has four key goals: adapting to climate change, mitigating climate change, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and enhancing knowledge and communication. A list of key projects is included.

This analytical report provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges for carbon sequestration activities in the forestry and agricultural sectors of both industrialised and developing countries. It outlines a set of strategies and approaches seeking to ensure that forest and other land-use climate change mitigation measures deliver sustainable development benefits in an equitable and cost-effective manner.  The publication aims to support governments, indigenous peoples, community-based organisations, United Nations partners, private companies, non-governmental organisations, and other stakeholders involved in land-use change and forestry-based activities in mitigating climate change.

This analytical report presents the Bioenergy and Food Security (BEFS) Analytical Framework (AF). The BEFS AF and its toolbox provide the means for examining the many varied consequences of bioenergy developments on food security, poverty reduction and rural development in specific countries. The document explains the rationale and structure of the BEFS AF, provides a general overview of the tools and their application, and illustrates how the analytical information generated assists policy makers in making informed decisions concerning the many varied consequences of bioenergy developments on food security, agriculture development and economic growth.

The technical document reports greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories submitted in 2011. It is prepared in two parts. Part I provides information to allow comparisons across Annex I parties, as well as descriptions of common methodological issues. Part II provides a preliminary analysis of individual Annex I party inventories. In particular, it identifies outstanding issues requiring clarification during the individual review stage of the process.

This manual highlights how planners and policy makers in local, national and regional governments can adopt an ecosystem-based management (EBM) approach to help ensure sustainable development for marine and coastal environments and the livelihoods that depend on them. It outlines operational steps in an accessible language, drawing on case studies and lessons-learned from tropical coastlines to temperate estuaries and polar ocean ecosystems. One of the key messages is that EBM is a holistic, integrated approach that looks at marine and coastal ecosystems as units with many ecological and social links. 

This analytical report initially summarizes the challenges facing agriculture and water without considering climate change. It then analyzes the broad and more specific impacts of climate change in different regions of the world and looks at options for adaptation and mitigation in some detail. The conclusion focuses on action needed to assist countries, in particular developing countries, in assessing probable climate change impacts on irrigated agriculture and on food production, and in adapting agricultural water management to cope with the range and depths of anticipated impacts.

This analytical report provides a comprehensive, up-to-date description of the status and trends of forests and forest management in Europe. It is structured according to the Pan-European Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management.  It also contains an assessment of progress towards sustainable forest management, derived from a new, experimental method. The report identifies four future challenges and opportunities for forest policy and forest management in Europe.