Blog Posts: international climate policy

Signals in 2021 will show whether we’re heading toward a cleaner, fairer, stronger world after the COVID-19 pandemic — or moving in the opposite direction

With concerted focus, the Biden administration can re-establish the United States as a climate leader and help propel the global fight against climate change.

75 years ago, the United Nations was founded on the belief that countries must work together to address global issues. As the world faces climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, some national governments are living up to this belief more than others — but crucial actors may be able to turn the tide.

As countries consider how to step up climate ambition while dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Chile leads by example with a new national climate commitment, or NDC.

2020 was supposed to be a decisive year for climate action. Countries were expected to put forward new, more ambitious climate plans (NDCs) in accordance with the Paris Agreement on climate change, then COVID-19 happened.

Decipher the COP25 lingo with this helpful reference of all the terminology being used at the 2019 UN Climate Conference in Madrid. This dictionary will help demystify conversations around the climate negotiations.

Negotiators at COP25 have an opportunity to get countries' national climate action plans onto the same schedule. A common time frame would improve transparency and coordination, and facilitate greater collective ambition.

One of the topics negotiators will focus on at the COP25 climate conference is capacity-building: equipping all countries with the tools they need to tackle climate change.

As leaders gather in Madrid for COP25, a can-do approach will be needed to inspire solutions for the climate challenge. These are the four priorities for the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference.

Countries' long-term climate strategies plan out to 2050. How can policymakers deal with uncertainty over this long time horizon? "Stress-testing" with different future scenarios can help.