Intervention of María Eugenia Di Paola in Plenary Session on Climate Action and Infrastructure

T20 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

@marudipaola -
Maria Eugenia Di Paola, UNDP Environment and Sustainable Development Coordinator, Argentina

Buenos Dias, Good Morning, I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to be part of this event, CARI, CIPECC and all the think tanks that every day work for the people and the Planet, your work with no hesitation is key to improve our lives, at present and in the future. I would like also to thank Gabriel it is pleasure to be here, and the panelists that share this plenary with me.

In order to start with my specific contribution, I would like to acknowledge the work that from UNDP we have been doing in order to contribute to the G20 during this year, specifically at the Energy transitions Working Group as well at the Climate Sustainability Working Group. Based upon this work my speech will take some inputs from the research on Long term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies that UNDP prepared together with the World Resources Institute, as well as different contributions from other agencies of the System, such as UN Environment, UN Habitat, ILO and ECLAC.

I would like to point out the importance of long term strategies in order to accelerate climate action, build resilience and inclusive growth. Why we need long term strategies? Long term strategies, rather than an end themselves, present a roadmap to be updated and improved as national circumstances change and new learning takes place. These strategies are living documents that can be improved over time to inform the preparation of successive NDCs. The strategies can help institutionalize action on climate change across the country and assess the sensitivity of the economy to climate change, highlighting opportunities and constraints. Global agreements and initiatives promote this important tool, such as the Climate Convention, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework and Agenda 2030, also Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si considers this issue.

Among the benefits associated with long term strategies, to name a few:

1. First a Long Term Strategy provides an approach to align short, medium and long- term goals, and to establish a long-term vision that guides near term actions, such as the processes for building and updating NDCs.

2. Second, it is a framework for prioritizing actions, and investments, and avoiding lock in and stranded assets,

3. Third, it develops a shared future vision involving government, private sector, technical institutions, Civil Society, and other stakeholders

Main challenges are:

• The appropriate use of strategic tools for long, medium and short term steps,
• Actual multi stakeholder involvement, public participation and access to information, social and gender inclusion,
• Financial alignment with the long term strategy as well as the different long, medium, and short term steps,
• Consideration of resource efficiency from the beginning of its design, implementation and follow up,
• institutional and legal framework considering a human right based approach, just transition, and access to public services

Resilient infrastructure considering not only the hardware (for example pipelines, grids) but also software necessities for a good governance approach (land use planning or disaster risk reduction plans involving communities)Involvement of the different levels of government in its design and implementation, considering the role that cities on other subnational governments play regarding climate action and sustainable development

Moving to a strategic and transformational approach that is guided by a shared vision can allow countries to reap the benefits of the transition. The 2030 Agenda appeals member States to leave no one behind in its commitment to end poverty and to join efforts to reach sustainable development based on inclusion economic growth and environmental protection.

What governance mechanisms should be implemented to improve coordination between national and subnational governments to implement NDCs?
Sub national and national governments need to be involved in the process of design, implementation and update of NDCs together with non-state actors. They also should work together on the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. This tandem is fundamental in order to build a partnership from the beginning, building the baseline and following up the NDC implementation and measuring its progress.

Here in Argentina, the National. Authority is working together with the provinces through the National Climate Cabinet and the Environmental Federal Council through sectoral and multi-stakeholder roundtables. At the same time, Cities are making progress building their own inventories and action plans, and there is an opportunity to make the most of this information and local capacities to synergize with the other levels of government. That is to say and to combine top down, bottom-up and horizontal approaches considering the local, regional and also metropolitan specificities and contributions within a country.
The Gap emissions report of UN Environment highlighted the vital role of sub-national and non-state actors in propelling the global fight against Climate Change.

Subnational government as well as cities have been working and networking for the last two decades, and the outcomes of the recent San Francisco Summit emphasized the need of healthy energy systems, inclusive economic growth, sustainable communities, land and ocean stewardship, and transformative climate investments. Patricia Espinosa underscored the need for all actors to embrace inclusive multilateralism.

So, I can say that we are experiencing the challenges of adequate governance coordination mechanisms not only at the domestic but also at the global level, in a positive way.

I would like to close my intervention with a citation of Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator who said: “Bold climate action could deliver u$s 26 trillion in economic benefits and create millions of jobs. By bringing together cities, states, private sector and civil society, the Global Climate Action Summit is setting the stage for even more ambitious action needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.”