COP President daily media statement and latest announcements – 9 November

• There has been new momentum from around the world to put gender at the forefront of climate action on Gender Day, as countries and non state actors set out gender and climate commitments, including:
  • Bolivia committing to promote the leadership of women and girls, especially indigenous, Afro-Bolivian, community and rural women, through their involvement in sustainable development projects, as well as to reflect gender data in its Nationally Determined Contributions, and to work with UN Women to promote the use of gender breakdowns in official national statistics on environment and climate change.
  • Canada to ensure that 80% of its $5.3 billion climate investments over the next five years target gender equality outcomes. 
  • Ecuador committing to strengthen leadership, negotiation, and decision-making capacities within women’s organisations working on climate.
  • Germany announcing a new Gender Strategy under its International Climate Initiative (IKI) which will promote gender-transformative approaches in international climate and biodiversity cooperation.
  • Nigeria expanding on its Implementation Strategy for their National Gender and Climate Action Plan. 
  • Sweden announcing new measures to firmly embed gender equality within all their climate action, as mentioned in Sweden’s Climate Policy Action Plan.
  • The UK setting out how £165 million in funding will address the dual challenges of gender inequality and climate change.
  • The USA promoting gender equity and equality in responding to climate change as a priority of its National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality; investing at least $14 million of the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund toward gender-responsive climate programming; and investing more than $20 million towards initiatives to increase women’s economic opportunities in the clean energy sector, strengthen action on gender-based violence and the environment, address barriers to women’s land rights, and support women farmers in East Africa to adapt to climate impacts.
• These announcements help build momentum internationally to drive implementation of the Gender Action Plan agreed at COP25, ahead of the sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) in March 2022 which will focus on gender equality in the context of climate change, the environment and disaster risk reduction. A full list of commitments made under Feminist Action for Climate Justice can be found on the Generation Equality website (PDF). Further commitments can be found in notes to editors below.  
• COP26 President Alok Sharma and UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience Anne-Marie Trevelyan hosted the Gender Day plenary event accompanied by Little Amal, the 3.5 metre puppet travelling 8,000km in support of refugees. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was among other high profile speakers to address the event.
• Under the Science and Innovation Day, initiatives launched today will enhance international cooperation between governments, academics, businesses and civil society and ensure science and innovation delivers for all in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement:
  • 47 countries have committed to building health systems which are able to withstand the impacts of climate change and which are low carbon and sustainable. These include 42 countries, representing over a third of global health care emissions, which have committed to develop a sustainable, low-carbon health system. 12 of these 42 countries have set a deadline of 2050 or earlier, by which their health system will reach net zero.
  • Visit GOV.UK for more detail on other Science and Innovation Day initiatives.

Press conference opening statement from COP President Alok Sharma, 9 November:

Welcome everyone to Gender, Science and Innovation day. 

We know that women and girls are disproportionately impacted by climate change.

And we cannot allow equality to be a casualty of climate. 

But women and girls are also leading efforts to tackle climate change in communities around the world. 

In the words of Brianna Fruean, they are not drowning, but fighting. 

And we must support those efforts. 

We must enable the full and meaningful participation of women and girls in climate action. 

So I am very pleased to say that countries and other stakeholders have made announcements today to make climate action gender-responsive. 

I am also very pleased to report that yesterday countries collectively pledged in excess of $232 million to the Adaptation Fund, which will support countries to deal with the impact of a changing climate.

Gender and inclusivity run throughout our COP Programme, including Science and Innovation Day. 

And I have always said it is vital that we follow the facts, and allow science to light the way. 

I’m going to turn now to the negotiations.

I am encouraged by countries’ commitments to anchoring science at the heart of the Cover Decision.

Yesterday, my lead negotiator Archie Young convened Heads of Delegations on the elements of the Cover Decision, that we proposed in our Non-Paper.

As I announced at the informal stocktaking plenary yesterday, I have requested pairings of Ministers to support the Presidency in some of the key outstanding issues on which we need to reach agreement.

These Pairs started their work yesterday and are consulting with a wide group of ministers and negotiators. 

And then we convened yesterday evening and the Ministerial pairs reported on their discussions. 

The time has now come to find political consensus on the areas of divergence. and we have only a few days left.

New texts were also tabled on issues including common timeframes, transparency, finance and adaptation.

We are making progress at COP26 but we still have a mountain to climb over the next few days. 

And what has been collectively committed to goes some way, but certainly not all the way, to keeping 1.5C within reach.

The gap in ambition has narrowed. 

Now the world needs confidence that we will shift immediately into implementation, that the pledges made here will be delivered, and that the policies and investment will swiftly follow.

We have an opportunity to succeed. 

The transition to a resilient zero carbon economy is technologically possible, it is economically attractive and it is accelerating everywhere. 

And if we successfully manage this will deliver immense benefits for the world.

Building on existing mechanisms; transparency and accountability must be at the heart of these commitments. 

So overnight the Presidency will publish the first draft of the Cover Decision. 

It will likely require negotiating teams to consult their leaders and capitals.

We have an urgency to our negotiations so I ask Ministers and negotiators to carry out these consultations expeditiously.

 

 

9 November 2021

COP26