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The report summarizes 6 main scenarios of digital technologies that applied to achieve urban net-zero carbon transition including urban building and housing, urban mobility, urban water, urban waste and circularity, urban energy and carbon management; it also provide a roadmap for cities and enterprises to achieve net-zero carbon from mastering carbon data, formulating carbon strategies and smart carbon actions. The 10 good practice cases exploring net-zero carbon development, from strategic planning, community governance, industrial park management, low-carbon buildings development, low-carbon transportation and other aspects to provide other cities around the world with Chinese solutions for urban net zero carbon transition. At the same time, the report also issued a global urban digital net zero carbon action initiative, calling for the urban net-zero carbon transition through the application of digital technology, digital innovation

In a world grappling with crises, cities emerge as pivotal agents of change. UN-Habitat’s 2023 report underscores the urgent need for urban transformation to tackle issues ranging from climate change to inequality, while emphasizing the pivotal role of cities in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

As one of the essential public services that supports our society in the 21st century, waste management is a basic human need and a critical infrastructure, especially in urban areas. Waste management is a cross-cutting issue that affects many aspects of society and the economy, closely linked to many other global challenges, including health, climate change, poverty reduction, food and resource security, and sustainable production and consumption. Waste management is a key component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is considered as an entry point for achieving a range of SDGs.

In order to summarize the excellent experience in municipal solid waste (MSW) management and share with other cities, in December 2023, UN-Habitat China Office developed the China Waste Wise Cities Good Practices (Series I), which selected three representative cities/urban districts in China, including Suzhou, Ningbo and Yantian District of Shenzhen City, and put forward the following key lessons in MSW management in China through the case studies. The main lessons learned from the case studies are: (1) clear strategic planning and target aligning with the “Five-Year Plan” are the foundation of the MSW management sector; (2) use market-based mechanisms to leverage capital investment to promote rapid development of this sector; (3) strict environmental emission standards, open and transparent data disclosure, and continuous communication with the public support the shift from “neighbour avoidance” to “neighbour benefits”; (4) People-oriented digital governance became the new business card of China’s MSW management, and; (5)”Waste classification is the touchstone of social civilization” is an important experience provided by China’s waste management practices.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are the cornerstone of the Paris Agreement and are the main policy instruments used to indicate national contributions toward global efforts for climate change mitigation and adaptation. This report, jointly prepared by UNDP, UN-Habitat, and the University of Southern Denmark, with support from C40 Cities, analyzes urban content in the 194 NDCs as of June 2023.

The report illustrates how, since the 2019 edition of this report, rising trends in global resource use have continued or accelerated. The report also shows how demand for resources is expected to continue increasing in the coming decades. This means that, without urgent and concerted action, by 2060 resource extraction could rise by 60% from 2020 levels – driving increasing damage and risks.

However, this fate is not sealed. The report also describes the potential to turn negative trends around and put humanity on a trajectory towards sustainability.

The WMO State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2023, is the fourth edition of climate reports published annually for this region and has involved National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), WMO Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), and several research institutions, as well as United Nations agencies, international and regional organizations. The report provides the status of key climate indicators and latest data and information on impacts, risks and policy from United Nations agencies. It addresses specific physical science, socio-economic and policy aspects that are relevant to LAC and responds to Members needs in the fields of climate monitoring, climate change and climate services.

Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is a strategy for adapting to climate change that harnesses nature-based solutions and ecosystem services. Over the past decade, the UN Environment Programme has embraced the practice as a cost-effective and holistic adaptation approach, now supporting more than 50 EbA projects across the world.

Combined, these projects have enhanced long-term adaptive capacity in communities, improved livelihoods, reduced climate risks and improved the health of a diverse range of ecosystems. This policy brief summarizes the key lessons from UNEP’s experiences across multiple countries and ecosystems over the past ten years.

Over the past two decades, Resilience has served as a unifying theme for the APAN Forums. The past years have seen significant efforts towards generating knowledge and information on climate change adaptation at the global and regional levels. However, we are still significantly off-schedule to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and the world is in a state of climate emergency. The current climate change impacts are evident and disruptive in sectors like agriculture, ecosystems, human health, urban settlements, and infrastructure. The sub-theme is aligned with the overarching theme of KGAW 2023 — “A New Era for Adaptation: Scaling up and transformation in adaptation”. It is also in line with the key outcomes of COP27, further emphasizing the importance of transformative approach to accelerating and enhancing adaptation efforts.

This publication offers recommendations, entry points and pathways for policy makers, academics, research organizations, non-government organizations, private sector, funding institutions and global and regional negotiations on developing strategies and approaches to achieve transformative adaptation in the Asia-Pacific region. It was launched at the NAP Expo 2024 in Dhaka Bangladesh on 25 April 2024.

This report presents an effort to understand the characteristics, uptake and overall market of electric two- and three- wheelers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The study includes the collection of data on electric two- and three-wheeler models in the three regions, a review of the status of the market, projections for region-wide growth until 2040, and recommendations to accelerate the transition towards electric two- and three-wheeler in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The process for developing this report began with the compilation of existing electric two- and three-wheeler models and their charging technology in each of the target regions through interviews with distributors, visits in the field, and internet searches. Details were collected on more than forty data points (listed in the appendix), including but not limited to motor power, battery capacity, battery chemistry, certified range, top speed, charger capacity, and physical size. Companies’ willingness to share specific data varied widely, posing a challenge and requiring the team to critically assess the data provided. The collected vehicle model and charging technology data was compiled in a database and an online dashboard.

Addressing the question of variability of renewables energy has been a key challenge for the energy transition. In many countries, thermal generation continues to drain scarce public resources, while deepening vicious cycles of power sector poverty traps. Yet, solar-plus-storage projects has the potential to reduce the dependency on thermal generation, providing comparable technical and commercial features.

The report provides a guiding framework for planning and implementing solar-plus-storage projects, while leveraging private investments. The report’s framework outlines four-phases covering the identification and planning of a project, selection, and adaptation of a business model from three pre-set configurations, and finally utilizing complementary PPA template resources in a competitive procurement process.

The report aims to streamline adoption and deployment of IPP-owned solar-plus-storage hybrid generation projects, especially in countries where reliance on fuel-based thermal generation is deepening their vulnerability and deficits, accelerating a much-needed transition.

The publication provides a summary on the state of the climate indicators in 2023 with sections on key climate indicators, extreme events and impacts. The indicators include global temperatures, greenhouse gas concentration, ocean heat content, sea level rise, ocean acidification, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, Greenland ice sheet and glaciers and snow cover, precipitation and stratospheric ozone, with an analysis of major drivers of inter-annual climate variability during the year including the El Niño Southern Oscillation and other ocean and atmospheric indices. The highlighted extreme events include those related to tropical cyclones and wind storms; flooding, drought and extreme heat and cold events. The publication also provides most recent finding on climate related risks and impacts including on food security and population displacement.

The WMO State of the Climate in Asia 2023, is the fourth edition of climate reports published annually for this region and has involved National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), WMO Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), and several research institutions, as well as United Nations agencies, international and regional organizations. The report provides the status of key climate indicators and latest data and information on impacts, risks and policy from United Nations agencies. It addresses specific physical science, socio-economic and policy aspects that are relevant to Asia and responds to Members needs in the fields of climate monitoring, climate change and climate services.

While climate change is a big threat to health, implementing solutions to address climate change presents a huge opportunity to promote better health and protect people from climate-sensitive diseases. Communicating the health risks of climate change and the health benefits of climate solutions is both necessary and helpful. Health professionals are well-placed to play a unique role in helping their communities understand climate change, protect themselves, and realize the health benefits of climate solutions. This toolkit aims to help health professionals effectively communicate about climate change and health.

This report assembles an impressive set of data from 24 low- and middle-income countries in five world regions to measure the effects of climate change on rural women, youths and people living in poverty. It analyses socioeconomic data collected from 109 341 rural households (representing over 950 million rural people) in these 24 countries. These data are combined in both space and time with 70 years of georeferenced data on daily precipitation and temperatures. The data enable us to disentangle how different types of climate stressors affect people’s on-farm, off-farm and total incomes, labour allocations and adaptive actions, depending on their wealth, gender and age characteristics.

This paper describes how to achieve feminist climate justice through four interlinked dimensions (recognition, redistribution, representation, and reparation) and the principles of interdependence and intersectionality. It provides practical guidance on what countries need to do to transition to low-emission economies that are resilient to a changing climate, while recognizing the leadership of women, girls, and gender-diverse people in driving the change that is so urgently needed. It zooms in on the global food system as one illustration of how this framework can be applied and provides an analysis of the major barriers to accountability for gender-responsive climate action and how they can be overcome.

This Booklet summarizes the main results of the 2023 Climate Classroom edition.

The report finds that there has been progress since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. Greenhouse gas emissions in 2030, based on policies in place, were projected to increase by 16 per cent at the time of the agreement’s adoption. Today, the projected increase is 3 per cent. However, predicted 2030 greenhouse gas emissions still must fall by 28 per cent for the Paris Agreement 2°C pathway and 42 per cent for the 1.5°C pathway.

As things stand, fully implementing unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) made under the Paris Agreement would put the world on track for limiting temperature rise to 2.9°C above pre-industrial levels this century. Fully implementing conditional NDCs would lower this to 2.5°C.

The report calls for all nations to accelerate economy-wide, low-carbon development transformations. Countries with greater capacity and responsibility for emissions will need to take more ambitious action and support developing nations as they pursue low-emissions development growth.

The report looks at how stronger implementation can increase the chances of the next round of NDCs, due in 2025, bringing down greenhouse gas emissions in 2035 to levels consistent with 2°C and 1.5°C pathways. It also looks at the potential and risks of Carbon Dioxide Removal methods – such as nature-based solutions and direct air carbon capture and storage.

The case for a gender-responsive just transition towards low-carbon economies with quality, decent jobs for women and men is grounded in the Paris Agreement and a growing body of data and evidence that underscores the necessity of incorporating gender equality considerations in just transition policies and initiatives.

This policy brief discusses robust pathways to overcome the prevailing challenges to just transitions with gender equality. It calls for governments and other stakeholders to make commitments to a gender-responsive just transition and be held accountable for their commitments and actions. Concluding recommendations set forth actions and investments to build sustainable economies and societies that support the survival and flourishing of the planet and present and future generations.