Build capacity for climate action

Area of Science:

• Climate Science
• Environmental Policy
• Sustainable Development

Background:

• Current climate action strategies are insufficient to meet agreed-upon temperature targets.
• Increasingly severe climate impacts necessitate urgent and effective global responses.
• The Global Stocktake (GST) under the Paris Agreement highlights the need for fundamental 'systems transformations'.

Discussion:

• While finance and technology are vital, they are insufficient alone for adequate climate action.
• Capacity building is identified as the third critical means of implementation for climate strategies.
• Without enhanced capacity building, achieving necessary systems transformations for climate change mitigation and adaptation is unlikely.

Key Insights:

• Climate action is off-track, failing both temperature goals and impact protection.
• COP28 is urged to facilitate a 'course correction' in global climate efforts.
• Effective climate action requires a balanced focus on finance, technology, and crucially, capacity building.

Outlook:

• Future climate strategies must prioritize strengthening capacity building globally.
• Integrating capacity building is essential for enabling the systems transformations required by the Paris Agreement.
• A failure to invest in capacity building will hinder progress towards equitable and effective climate solutions.