Tag: UNEP

AI helping UN detect methane emissions and spark real reductions in climate-warming gas

Stuart Mitchell

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is helping turn satellite observations into methane mitigation action in the oil and gas sector. These mitigation efforts have delivered a climate benefit comparable to removing the annual emissions of almost 24 million gasoline-powered passenger cars, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The report, Spotlighting Opportunity: How Artificial Intelligence is Accelerating Methane Action, highlights how UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) is using AI, through its Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), to identify major methane emissions and rapidly notify governments and…

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UNEP, partners ramp up efforts to address major methane leaks as UN chief urges rapid cuts

Stuart Mitchell

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Bloomberg Philanthropies have announced efforts to help countries raise their response rate to major methane leaks around the world to 80 percent by 2030, ensuring that the causes of emissions seen from space are investigated and put on a path to mitigation. To date, only 10 early moving countries have achieved an 80 percent response rate. The announcement follows UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for urgent action to scale up methane mitigation, which underscores the importance of rapid reductions this decade across major emitting…

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Global chemicals fund helps countries turn commitments into action

Stuart Mitchell

As global chemical production is projected to double by 2030, countries are under growing pressure to strengthen systems that protect people and the environment from harmful chemicals and pollution. Yet many still face major gaps in the financing, technical capacity and institutional readiness needed to reduce exposure, strengthen monitoring, improve legislation and advance safer and more sustainable alternatives.  Exposure to harmful chemicals and pollution contributes to millions of deaths and significant disease burden every year. Addressing these risks increasingly requires stronger national systems, better coordination across sectors and sustained investment that can turn global commitments into practical…

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Health gains visibility in national climate plans, while opportunities for stronger implementation remain, report finds

Stuart Mitchell

As discussions on loss and damage advance at the Bonn Climate Change Conference, a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP‑CCC) examines how countries are reflecting health-related losses and impacts within national climate policy frameworks. The report, Loss and Damage Beyond Economics, assesses how countries address non‑economic losses, particularly those related to health, in national climate plans, including Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Health National Adaptation Plans. The findings come as the health impacts of climate change intensify worldwide, with heat‑related deaths…

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New US$9.8 million initiative to boost climate resilience through Ethiopia’s Green Legacy

Stuart Mitchell

Ethiopia is scaling up nature-based solutions to tackle the growing impacts of climate change, with the launch of a new US$ 9.8 million project supported by the Least Developed Countries Fund of the Global Environment Facility and implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Scaling up the Green Legacy Initiative best practices to enhance the climate resilience of smallholder farmers and vulnerable groups in Ethiopia will strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities by expanding ecosystem-based adaptation approaches across the country, in a way that prepares for the future climate. “Restoration…

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