Revamped UN Climate Action Portal to Capture and Drive Climate Action
UN Climate Change News, San Francisco, 14 September 2018 – As leaders gather in California this week for the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS2018), UN Climate Change is
presenting a revamped version of its Climate Action Portal, featuring the accelerated action underway by cities,
regions, companies and investors to achieve the collective goals of the Paris Agreement.
The preview coincides with what has been dubbed ‘the biggest moment for climate action since the Paris Agreement,’ to
highlight progress being made around the five GCAS ‘challenge areas’: Healthy Energy Systems, Inclusive Economic Growth, Land and Ocean Stewardship, Sustainable Communities and
Transformative Investments.
Key commitments in these five areas will be presented at the end of the Global Climate Action Summit today, and by the
New York Climate Week in a fortnight, UN Climate Change will have uploaded all the actions under each of these five
areas to the area, effectively serving as the legacy tool for the Summit.
The energy and momentum emerging from GCAS2018 can help set the stage for the next steps in the international climate
change process, starting with the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice this December (COP24).
Originally called the ‘NAZCA Portal’ – named after the ancient lines in Peru and launched by the Peruvian Government
back in 2014 – the Climate Action portal was subsequently enshrined in the text of the Paris Agreement as the official
portal to showcase the contributions of the so-called “non-Party stakeholders”.
The new design and improved usability of the website – centered around an interactive map – offers an improved
visualization of the overall data and enhanced aggregation of climate action based on constituencies and sectors.
The update also represents a unique collaboration between UN Climate Change and its core data partners who have been
working tirelessly to harvest and consolidate the climate commitments and actions of non-Party stakeholders (cities,
regions, businesses and investors): CDP, Carbonn Climate Registry, Climate Initiative Bonds, Cooperative Initiative Platform, Global Covenant of Mayors, Investors on
Climate Change, The Climate Group, and UN Global Compact.
Recent studies have underscored the vital role that these actors are playing to reduce global emissions and, in doing
so, to create unstoppable momentum towards the Secretary-General’s 2019 Climate Summit. Specifically, some studies
suggest that by 2030, global greenhouse gas emissions could be lowered by as much as 1.5 to 2.2 gigatons (CO2e) every
year if the commitments from nearly 6,000 cities, states, regions and over 2,000 companies are fully implemented.
The portal will therefore serve a critical function by capturing the breadth and depth of this action from the ‘real
world’ economy, gradually incorporating new data over the coming months from more than 12,000 stakeholders, and
capturing many more commitments going forward.
This can encourage governments to raise ambition as they prepare for COP24 in Poland in December of this year and for
the next round of climate action plans under the Paris Agreement in 2020.
To view UN Climate Change’s Global Climate Action portal, please visit the following link: http://climateaction.unfccc.int/
About the Nazca Climate Action Portal:
NAZCA was launched by the Peruvian Presidency of the UN Climate Change Conference COP20, alongside the Lima Paris Action
Agenda (LPAA) in 2014. It was a central tool for the LPAA and the French Presidency to build momentum and support the
adoption of the universal climate agreement at COP21 in 2015. This culminated with its inclusion in the Paris Agreement
outcome where countries welcomed the efforts of these actors to scale up their climate actions and encouraged the
registration of these actions on NAZCA. As such, NAZCA will continue to play a key role in providing visibility and
tracking the diversity of climate action and mobilizing broader engagement to help countries achieve and exceed their
national commitments.