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The transformation of societies and economies towards paradigms centred on interdependence, care, and sustainability is urgently needed. In this context, this working paper sheds light on emerging efforts to address women’s and girls’ unpaid care, domestic, and communal work in a dramatically changing climate.

The paper discusses the ways in which climate change and environmental degradation disrupt the care economy and increase and intensify women’s and girls’ unpaid care, domestic, and communal work. The paper analyses emerging national efforts to address unpaid care and domestic work through multilateral environmental agreements and valuing paid and unpaid care work in gender-responsive just transitions.

The paper concludes with recommendations for governments, international organizations, UN agencies, academia, and civil society at a key moment for rethinking the dominant development model based on the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, fossil fuels, and human lives, and for making caring for people and the planet a central concern.

Climate change is a global emergency that puts the achievement of gender equality at great risk. As climate change intensifies around the world, many women and girls, especially those in situations of vulnerability, migrate in search of safety, livelihoods, and employment opportunities. Gender considerations shape the decision to migrate and the migration experience.

Greater collection and analysis of data is needed to ensure migration policies are responsive to the needs of women and girls migrating in the context of climate change. Existing international frameworks and mechanisms to manage safe and regular migration in relation to climate change are limited, and those that do exist have not fully mainstreamed gender equality considerations.

This policy brief explores the linkages among gender, migration, and climate change, and provides recommendations to policymakers and practitioners to ensure safe and regular migration for women and girls in the context of climate change.

This document presents the World Health Organization Operational framework for building climate resilient and low carbon health systems. The framework’s goal is to increase the climate resilience of health systems to protect and improve the health of communities in an unstable and changing climate, while optimizing the use of resources and implementing strategies to reduce GHG emissions. It aims to contribute to the design of transformative health systems that can provide safe and quality care in a changing climate.

The report, which includes input from more than 30 collaborating partners, features case studies from around the world showcasing how integrated climate and health action makes a very real difference in people’s daily life. This includes early warnings systems for extreme heat, pollen monitoring to help allergy sufferers and satellite surveillance for climate-sensitive diseases.

This report builds on 2021’s Children’s Climate Risk Index and examines water scarcity and water vulnerability along with the critical actions the international community must take at COP28 to protect children against climate change.

The report – which looks at progress in planning, financing and implementing adaptation actions – finds that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries are 10-18 times as big as international public finance flows. This is over 50 per cent higher than the previous range estimate. This report identifies seven ways to increase financing, including through domestic expenditure and international and private sector finance. Additional avenues include remittances, increasing and tailoring finance to Small and Medium Enterprises and a reform of the global financial architecture. The new Loss and Damage fund will also need to move towards more innovative financing mechanisms to reach the necessary scale of investment.

The report analyses the most common weather-related hazards that lead to the
largest number of displacements: floods, storms, droughts and wildfires.
Together, these hazards account for over 99 per cent of all weather-related
displacements recorded by IDMC since 2016, while hazards such as extreme heat,
erosion and landslides, make up the rest.3 Due to lack of available data, the analysis
does not assess the full range of weather-related events that can contribute to
displacement– particularly in relation to slower-onset climate processes. Therefore,
these findings represent conservative estimates, and the actual numbers of
climate-related displacements of children are likely to be much higher.
These new insights can help governments, United Nations agencies, civil
society, and affected communities, to identify children at risk of weather-related
displacement, map the areas most affected and most importantly, target efforts
and resources to the most vulnerable, with the aim of protecting children’s
futures from the impacts of displacement as the climate continues to change.

This strategy paper draws from existing research and practical project experience applying nature-based solutions (NBS) for adaptation and building climate resilience in informal areas to better understand the potential for upscaling implementation as well as the challenges.

The paper identifies (a) what are some of the interconnected opportunities and challenges of working on NBS to build climate resilience in informal areas, (b) what are some of the special considerations that may need to be acknowledged when planning or implementing NBS for adaptation in informal areas and finally (c) what are some of the best practices that can be identified to date.

It is intended that this strategy paper will support strategic discussions and programming to catalyze research and action on nature-based solutions in informal areas to reduce vulnerability, address climate risk, and contribute to sustainable development for the urban poor and the natural environment.

The State of Climate Ambition: Snapshot for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), provide analysis for this group of Climate Promise-supported countries, surrounding their NDC status and implementation readiness.

The Snapshot builds upon, and updates information, from UNDP’s The State of Climate Ambition (Oct 2021). It explores NDC submission, ambition and quality status while assessing progress on key systems and architecture for NDC implementation.

It also looks at areas of past and future Climate Promise support and showcases champion countries.

The State of Climate Ambition: Snapshot for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), provide analysis for this group of Climate Promise-supported countries, surrounding their NDC status and implementation readiness.

The Snapshot builds upon, and updates information, from UNDP’s The State of Climate Ambition (Oct 2021). It explores NDC submission, ambition and quality status while assessing progress on key systems and architecture for NDC implementation.

It also looks at areas of past and future Climate Promise support and showcases champion countries.

This new report unpacks why a just transition is central to delivering the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, analyses key global and regional trends, and explores what a just transition means for UNDP’s work.

The report presents results of the Japan-funded Climate Promise project (FY 2021) across 22 countries and territories, demonstrating human-centered stories of people that benefitted from the project activities.

It also covers main achievements and role of the project in implementation of NDC targets in participating countries.

This study maps the extent to which climate, peace and security intersections are addressed in the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and offers a blueprint for the mainstreaming of climate-related security risks into the NAPs and for synergies between adaptation policies and peacebuilding efforts.

The Climate Dictionary is an initiative aimed at providing an everyday guide to understanding climate change. It seeks to bridge the gap between complex scientific jargon and the general public, making climate concepts accessible and relatable to individuals from various backgrounds and levels of expertise.

The concept is driven by the belief that empowering people with knowledge is crucial in fostering action and collective responsibility towards addressing climate change.

By utilizing a creative combination of compelling visuals, concise explanations, and engaging storytelling, “The Climate Dictionary” effectively communicates complex climate concepts in a user-friendly and visually captivating manner. The publication features a series of climate-related term or phenomenon. The content is meticulously crafted to cater to diverse audiences, catering to both the scientifically inclined and those with limited prior knowledge of the subject.

The dictiionary is also available in Spanish and French.

This Practice Note identifies practical suggestions for addressing the effects of climate change in mediation processes, including by leveraging climate policy frameworks and climate finance during peace processes and agreement implementation. It proposes considerations applicable from the preparation and negotiation phases to the design and implementation of a peace agreement.4 Crucially, it also provides guidance on where mediation teams can find the support necessary to design and undertake the proposed actions.

Falling short: addressing the climate finance gap for children is a study analysing how ‘child responsive’ projects funded by key multilateral climate funds are – over a 17-year period. ‘Child responsiveness’ is defined as addressing the distinct and heightened risks children experience from the climate crisis, strengthening the resilience of child-critical social services and empowering children as agents of change. The report concludes that children are being failed by climate funding commitments, despite bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.

This report provides key highlights of the progress made by the Collaborative in 2022. It includes a deep-dive analysis and recommendations that have advanced a shared understanding on adaptation and resilience impact metrics and identifies some areas where further analysis and development is needed. It presents the 2023–24 work programme to accelerate progress across the three technical workstreams: (i) physical climate risks; (ii) investor-relevant adaptation and resilience metrics, and (iii) investment vehicles and approaches, set out in the Collaborative’s 2022 Progress Report. 

UN Women and UNIDO have joined forces to produce this guide on “Gender equality in the sustainable energy transition”, which provides an overview of key and emerging issues in the gender and sustainable energy nexus, illustrated by research findings and case studies. This guide has been drafted with a view to supporting policymakers and development practitioners in government, the private sector, and civil society, as well as in the UN system, who are involved in designing and implementing sustainable energy policies, programmes, and projects.

The theme study sets out the transformations that are needed for Asia and the Pacific to transition to a net-zero-carbon future in support of sustainable development. It provides an outline of the regional context of climate change and identifies policies and actions that could be taken in various sectors of the economy to support the global climate agenda, while also making broad economic, social and environmental gains. To close the emissions gap in key sectors, efforts must be made to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Low-carbon mobility and logistical solutions are crucial for accelerating innovation, developing technologies and tapping into greener fuels. The move towards low-carbon transport options requires an integrated approach to land use and urban planning, as Asia and the Pacific is rapidly motorizing. Furthermore, Governments need to boost their climate-smart trade and investment sectors so that they can decarbonize industries that are currently notable for exporting carbon-intensive goods. Trade and investment should be utilized as force multipliers to combat climate change but are still missing from the existing regional climate landscape. The theme study also contains information on climate-related financing needs in the region and addresses data gaps for better monitoring. Given the carbon neutrality commitments from the majority of Asia-Pacific countries, the report recommends strengthening regional policy dialogue and technical cooperation on low carbon, climate-resilient transition.

The world is on track to reach a peak global temperature rise by 2100 that far exceeds the 1.5⁰C target needed to reduce the worst climate change impacts. Cities are particularly critical as they account for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, consume 78% of the world’s energy and will comprise 68% of the global population by 2050. This report explores the linkage between national climate plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and urban issues.