With COP26 just concluded, this month has shown a global spotlight on the need for international action on the climate crisis and on various forms of cooperation to achieve it. Glasgow saw promises on additional actions around forests, methane, fossil fuel funding and a renewed bilateral cooperation between China and the USA.

Even after the NDC updates that many Parties have submitted in advance of and at the COP, national climate actions are not yet sufficient to limit the long-term global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius. In this context, multilateral cooperation has the potential to enhance exchange among interested countries and through a collaborative effort leverage additional reductions.

2021 has seen much positive dynamic on climate action internationally, despite the pandemic and its negative impacts on people’s wellbeing and economies around the globe. Especially the reverse in the US approach to the climate crisis has provided a new boost. With the additional momentum from COP26, there could be scope in 2022 for further advances, including in the G7 and G20 discussions, led by Germany and Indonesia, respectively.

What this event focused on

This virtual conference shared ideas for advancing additional multilateral action in support of the goals of the Paris Agreement and discussed them with international experts.

A keynote by the relevant Ministry in Germany presented an outlook on the scope for additional collaboration under the upcoming G7 and G20 presidencies, respectively.

Ideas for potential additional collaboration initiatives was presented by researchers from Ecologic Institute, Oeko Institute and Climate Analytics.

A panel of experts dissected these and offer their insights on the potential for additional multilateral climate action going forward, against the backdrop of COP26 and other relevant developments in 2021 that show a potential path into the future.

More material from the same project, including detailed policy papers on multilateral collaboration in energy, synthetic fuels, food systems and forest protection are available directly from the UBA website.