International unity is more important than ever

However, in 2023 the focus on sustainability has been affected by the wars in Ukraine and on the Gaza strip. These wars are not only devastating from a human perspective. They have also had a direct as well as a long-term negative effect on the environment and the climate. In Ukraine, reports show that several wetland areas have been destroyed, hundreds of animal species are at danger and around 33 million tons of CO2 have been emitted. 

Despite these negative events, there has also been good progress towards reaching our targets. In the US, decisions deriving from the Inflation Reduction Act is turned into action, and we can see how large investments go into decarbonizing the energy sector, upgrading the electric grid, upgrading energy efficiency of buildings, and zero emission vehicles and their infrastructure. Large investments are also going into preparing for extreme weather as it becomes more and more clear that inaction will be very costly. During the year, the US and China decided to engage in dialogue and cooperation through the Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s. The working group will, amongst other areas, focus on energy transition, circular economy, low carbon states and cities. uThe Asia-Pacific climate week was held in Malaysia on the 13–17th of November. Here, representatives from the regions governments, the private sector, NGOs, youth groups and civil society met to build new partnerships and collaborate to tackle climate change. The results show common efforts to heighten the ambitions and accelerate action. The outcome also focuses on ensuring a just energy transition and increased engagement by the civil society.  The need for substantial measures and global collaboration is more important than ever. During this year’s climate conference COP 28 it was time to do a “the global stocktake”, hence, to audit each country’s plan and results according to the Paris agreement. The conclusion from the stocktake is that there is positive progress towards achieving the objective, however, we are still off track. The Global Stocktake High-Level Committee describes “the urgent need for a paradigm shift, taking a holistic approach to successfully address climate change that accelerates ambition, action and support across the agenda”. The key success of the meeting was the agreement to “accelerating efforts to phase-down unabated coal power”, “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems” and “accelerating the reduction of emission from road transport by development of infrastructure and rapid deployment of zero and low emission vehicles”. Alignment of how we should reach the targets, and knowledge about our shortcomings, will increase the rate of transition.