Asia-Pacific Climate Week Gears Up to Boost Climate Ambition

UN Climate Change News, 4 July 2019— Seizing the opportunity of the incredible momentum of climate action, and Asia-Pacific countries being at the forefront of innovation to tackle the climate crisis, the upcoming Asia-Pacific Climate Week 2019 (APCW) is gearing up to boost the region’s response to the current climate emergency.

The Week is being organized by the United Nations Climate Change in partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and other international and regional organizations, which include the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme DTU Partnership, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, the International Emissions Trading Association, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and the Climate Technology Centre and Network and will take place at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, from 2 to 6 September 2019.

The APCW provides a space to develop multi-stakeholder climate action in the spirit of the Talanoa Dialogue, in reference to the traditional Pacific islands notion of an inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue.

The world is at a critical juncture in its efforts to tackle the climate emergency. As underlined by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, leadership at the highest level is urgently needed to close the ambition gap between current national climate plans (known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs) and what is needed for the international community to meet the central Paris Climate Change Agreement goal of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

The results of the APCW will feed into the outcome of the Climate Action Summit organized by the Secretary-General on 23 September in New York, thereby boosting ambition and accelerating the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Discussions in Bangkok will focus on five of the nine Summit’s tracks: energy transition; industry transition; infrastructure; cities and local action; resilience and adaptation; and nature-based solutions.

The results of the APCW will also be a key contribution to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) to be held in Santiago, Chile, from 2 to 13 December.

The APCW’s agenda, now available online, features a spectrum of leaders from the public and private sectors, from local to national governments, from investors to business leaders, and from representatives of the youth and the civil society to UN officials.

Ministers of Thailand and from countries in the region, local authorities, regional leaders from public and private sectors, youth and civil society and senior UN officials will gather on Wednesday, 4 September for the opening of the High-Level Segment.

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