On the opening day of the United Nations climate change conference (COP21), dozens of announcements were made in Paris by Governments and leaders of the public and private sectors, all aiming to generate climate solutions and build a sustainable future.<\/p>\n
A new initiative to build climate resilience in the world\u2019s most vulnerable countries was\u00a0launched<\/a> by Secretary-General<\/a> Ban Ki-moon and 13 agencies of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system.<\/p>\n \u201cThree out of four humanitarian disasters are now climate-related,\u201d Mr. Ban told delegates attending a High-level meeting on climate resilience at the Paris-Le Bourget site, COP21\u2019s main venue.<\/p>\n \u201cEconomic losses have increased by more than half over the past decade. Ecosystems, and food and water supplies are under increasing pressure. The hardest hit are the poor and vulnerable \u2013 including small farmers, fishing communities and indigenous peoples,\u201d warned the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief.<\/p>\n According to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, the new initiative \u2013 called \u2018Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape\u2019 \u2013 will strengthen the ability of countries to anticipate hazards, absorb shocks, and reshape development to reduce climate risks.<\/p>\n It is expected to help address the needs of the nearly 634 million people, or a tenth of the global population who live in at-risk coastal areas just a few meters above existing sea levels, as well as those living in areas at risk of droughts and floods. The world is now experiencing a strong El Ni\u00f1o event, which could place as many as 4.7 million people at risk from drought in the Pacific alone.<\/p>\n Over the next five years, the Initiative is set to mobilize financing and knowledge; create and operationalize partnerships at scale, help coordinate activities to help reach tangible results, catalyze research, and develop new tools.<\/p>\n The Secretary-General also joined the launch of the International Solar Alliance<\/a>, set up by the Governments of India and France. In the presence of India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chiefsaid<\/a> the Alliance will \u201cenable solar-rich developing countries to make the best use of an abundant, free natural resource.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe broad support for this international coalition is testament to the resonance of your vision of a solar-powered path to prosperity,\u201d said Mr. Ban. \u201cAs the Prime Minister has said, we need \u2018development without destruction.\u2019 Solar energy offers major potential for reducing poverty and limiting greenhouse gas emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that he counts on developed countries to partner with the International Solar Alliance by providing technology support, capacity-building and financial resources.<\/p>\n Other news at the opening of COP21 included a pledge by 11 donor countries<\/a> of close to $250 million dollars in new money for adaptation support to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), a climate fund hosted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen for myself how people from across the developing world are leading the way to climate solutions,\u201d said Mary Robinson, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General\u2019s Special Envoy on Climate Change.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the scale and international nature of climate change requires an unprecedented level of international solidarity and support. So today\u2019s announcement should be seen in that context: they are not just about dollars and cents and accounting. They are about supporting millions of people across the world,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a new Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiqu\u00e9<\/a> was presented to Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Framework Convention on Climate Change (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFCCC<\/a>), by the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.<\/p>\n The Communiqu\u00e9 calls on the international community to increase efforts to phase out perverse subsidies to fossil fuels by promoting policy transparency, ambitious reform and targeted support for the poorest.<\/p>\n In addition, the World Bank announced<\/a> it has been working with four European countries \u2013 Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland \u2013 to set up a new $500 million initiative that will find new ways to create incentives aimed at large scale cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries to combat climate change.<\/p>\n The initiative, called the Transformative Carbon Asset Facility, will reportedly help developing countries implement their plans to cut emissions by working with them to create new classes of carbon assets associated with reduced greenhouse gas emission reductions, including those achieved through policy actions.<\/p>\n Twenty countries, all of them major economies, launched<\/a> Mission Innovation, a landmark commitment to dramatically accelerate public and private global clean energy innovation, including doubling their current investments in the sector.<\/p>\n According to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFCCC, these national commitments \u201care coupled with a major, independent private sector initiative spearheaded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in which entrepreneurs, investors, and businesses will deploy billions more dollars to drive innovation from the laboratory to the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, the opening of COP21 also included new partnerships forged between world leaders from major forest countries who today endorsed forests as a key climate solution.<\/p>\n