UNFCCC Senior Director: We have work to do to hit Paris Agreement targets

Climate change affects our whole planet and needs to be addressed at the global level. Our Nordea On Your Mind author Johan Trocmé talked to Daniele Violetti, Senior Director at the UNFCCC, about how this UN body convenes the annual COPs where the world's countries negotiate rules and initiatives for how to reach the Paris Agreement targets to limit the temperature rise. 

Update: This interview took place before the UN Climate Change Conference COP29. The summit ended with developed countries pledging to contribute at least USD 300bn yearly by 2035. While this is three times the current level, the amount falls short of calls from developing countries for USD 0.5-1trn.  

Johan Trocmé (JT): For starters, could you briefly describe the UNFCCC secretariat, its mandate, and your role there?

Daniele Violetti (DV): UN Climate Change brings the world together to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Working with every country on earth, we helped countries put together the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Now every year we convene negotiations - or COPs - where those countries iron out the rules, and also investors and businesses, cities and regions, civil society and many more people come together and get on with the business of implementing the agreement. My job is to provide strategic direction and oversight to the work of the four programme divisions of the UNFCCC (Adaptation, Means of Implementation, Mitigation and Transparency).

JT: Being at the heart of the UN-led response by humankind to climate change, how do you currently see the outlook for reaching the 2015 Paris Agreement goal to cap global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrialised levels?

DV: We clearly have work to do to ensure that we hit Paris Agreement targets and avoid devastating climate impacts. When it comes to meeting temperature targets, every fraction of a degree counts. That means governments at all levels, businesses, banks and investors have an incentive to accelerate action now. The alternative is climate impacts that hurt lives and livelihoods and cause cascading costs across economies.

JT: COP29 will take place in November in Baku. Could you describe how the Conference works, and what do you expect from it this year?

DV: International climate change negotiations are where the world comes together to work on collective solutions to our shared challenges. We have a wide and varied agenda - dealing with issues ranging from collective goals on cutting greenhouse gas emissions to the form and functioning of international carbon markets. In the past couple of years, we've seen real progress, including the agreement of a new Fund for Loss and Damage, which will channel money to countries that have experienced irreversible impacts from a changing climate, to the UAE Consensus, which included agreement to triple renewable energy worldwide and transition away from fossil fuels and halt deforestation. This year, the biggest item on the agenda is agreeing on a new goal for international climate finance, specifically how much money should flow to developing countries to help them build clean energy and increase climate resilience.

JT: In very simple terms, which are the critical drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, and what will be needed to reduce or eliminate them? Which are the areas that will be the real game changers for reaching the Paris Agreement targets?

DV: From burning fossil fuels to chopping down forests, it's clear that we need to change a lot of how we produce and consume. But, we've also seen a proliferation of technological development and deployment in the past decade. I believe we're only at the beginning of that transition. Clean and renewable energy, storage and efficiency, coupled with the protection of nature, can take us a long way towards meeting our Paris goals. The national climate action plans due to be submitted early next year are a huge opportunity to set the direction of travel. But, in an ideal world, we don't just meet targets, we exceed them. For me, the real game changers will be in deploying clean and green technologies that benefit every person on earth, bringing them cheap energy, speeding development, and enhancing resilience to change. And we need every business, investor, city and region working collaboratively across their value chains to make this happen.

JT: How do the needs for climate action differ between the world's regions? Do you see very different outlooks for success in limiting climate change in different parts of the world?

DV: Limiting climate change is a collective endeavour, so I'd be hesitant to say any country is more successful than any other - greenhouse gases in the atmosphere don't discriminate, we all feel their impacts. What I can say is that every country, company and consumer in the world needs to have a stake in the energy transition, and every life and livelihood is at risk from climate impacts. Right now, progress in installing clean energy and building resilience is unevenly distributed. We at UN Climate Change are doing our best to help by convening the world's nations in Baku this year to negotiate a new goal that increases the flow of finance to those who need it most.

JT: Are the prospects for climate action affected by a more tense global geopolitical environment, with potential hot spots in, for example, the Middle East and Taiwan, and rising trade barriers?

DV: Perhaps more than any other issue, climate change is where countries have continued to cooperate, even in the face of geopolitical tensions and rising trade barriers. Every country has a shared interest in dealing with the problem because, rich or poor, all are at significant risk from the disruption that climate change causes.

JT: How would you describe the investment needs for reaching the Paris Agreement targets? What kinds of investments will be needed, and how big? How can the necessary investments be funded?

DV: The investment needed is significant - but investment in climate solutions is growing rapidly. Over one trillion dollars was invested last year in climate action. We expect this number to rise quickly as more and more people see the scale of opportunity in the energy transition. That said, progress is not a given and the vast majority of investment to date has been concentrated in larger, richer countries. So a big part of our work this year in Baku will be agreeing on a new global climate finance goal to ensure that more money flows to developing countries – up to USD 6.9tn is needed by 2030. Our hope is that around a core of public finance, development banks and the private sector can play a greater role. It's also extremely important that we see more investment in adaptation - activities that increase climate resilience.