COP26: Nature Day and Week 2 begins

_{Resilience metrics framework}

Race to Resilience is a global campaign backed by the UN that aims to catalyse climate resilience  - the capacity of socio-economic and environmental systems to cope with the changes in climate that are occurring or expected to occur, notwithstanding emissions reductions. It launched a new verified metrics framework today aimed to help businesses, cities and regions measure climate resilience.

_{Global Resilience Index}

The Global Resilience Index Initiative (GRII) was formed late last year, and is composed of civil society, academic and private sector organisations seeking to address the “data emergency”.

The initiative’s Global Resilience Index was launched today. It aims to assist all sectors with quantification of the value of building climate resilience. It will provide open reference data on climate and natural hazard risks based on shared standards and consistent metrics at both regional and global levels.

_{NGFS report on climate litigation risk}

The NGFS has published a new report “Climate-related litigation: Raising awareness about a growing source of risk”. The report discusses climate litigation as a sub-set of both physical risk and transition risk, and considers general trends in climate litigation. It notes that prudential supervisors are not yet fully recognising the impact of climate litigation and called for such authorities to ensure that financial institutions are adequately addressing the resulting financial and operational risks.

_{Sustainable food and agriculture transition policy action agenda}

Over 40 countries launched a Policy Action Agenda on Day 7 of COP26 setting out how public policy can support the transition of agriculture and food production to a more sustainable footing.

The Agenda is based on a 7 principle definition of sustainable agriculture which takes into account the impact of the transition on farmers and rural communities, and focuses on a broader range of environmental objectives beyond climate change mitigation and adaptation. It encourages governments to undertake a range of policy actions, including greater analysis of agri policy including funding, investment in R&D and developing “more inclusive” agriculture and food systems transition strategies which feed into national strategies such as the NDCs, national biodiversity strategies under the Convention on Biological Diversity and action plans to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.

_{FACT Roadmap}

The Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue was launched by the UK in February 2021, and is co-chaired by the UK and Indonesia. It comprises over 25 countries with a role in the international agricultural commodities/products trade from both the producer and consumer angle. It aims to agree principles for a transition to sustainable supply chains and promotion of sustainable development and trade, whilst also protecting forests and other critical ecosystems.

The FACT Dialogue has launched a roadmap for action on the key workstreams related to the Dialogue’s objectives:

• Trade and market development of sustainable products
• Smallholder support
• Traceability and transparency
• Research, development and innovation.

_{Water reporting framework} 

The Carbon Disclosure Project has announced the development of the first water reporting framework for financial institutions. The new framework is expected to be initially released next April.

_{NGFS call for more focus on nature-related risk}

The NGFS emphasised in a panel discussion that financial institutions and their supervisors need to be “at least as expeditious” on nature-based risk as they are on climate. The alliance has noted previously that the financial sector often does not include the physical impact of water scarcity and water stress, and specifically mentioned water security in their interim report on the financial stability implications of the biodiversity crisis.

Author: Kelly Sporn