Response from global key organizations
Last updated
Last updated
As we all know, 195 countries around the world have adopted the Paris Agreement from 2015 to take collective action on climate change. The agreement required each party to set its own nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and submit them every five years for review.
NGOs, especially Humanitarian NGOs that have focused on providing relief to vulnerable populations facing humanitarian crises such as hunger, disease, and disaster are now taking action on climate change. Humanitarian organizations are responding to the climate crisis because it is disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), climate change has increased the number of global floods by about 134% over the past 20 years, and the number of droughts by about 29% over the same period. Floods have been concentrated in Asia and droughts in Africa. The number of people affected by floods and droughts was about 1.65 billion and 1.43 billion, respectively.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), a coalition of national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, will be attending the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) later this month to present a declaration on climate action on behalf of humanitarian NGOs around the world. In May, the ICRC launched the Climate and Environment Charter for International Humanitarian Organizations. The charter, which outlines seven codes of conduct for climate- and environmentally-conscious humanitarian work, was signed by 150 humanitarian organizations from around the world, including Save the Children and Oxfam.
The number of companies working on significant environmental pledges with the Science Based Targets Initiative (a global project of nonprofits including the United Nations Global Compact) rose from 2,079 in 2022 to 4,204 by the end of 2023. This represents over $38 Trillion of the global economy.
For instance, member of Race to Zero partner, The Climate Pledge, Salesforce is committed to a net zero, nature-positive future rooted in people and climate justice; Unilever is forging a sustainable value chain; L’Oreal is leading the way with renewable energy; Microsoft is driving comprehensive carbon neutrality; and Nike is revolutionizing sustainability in the sports industry.
