The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
UNOPS commits to supporting climate action under landmark agreement
A new agreement will help to advance global cooperation on a range of sustainable infrastructure projects in support of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
On the sidelines of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York this week, UNOPS has signed a new landmark agreement with the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA). The GCA is part of the Global Commission on Adaptation – a high-level group of leaders from the development, political, business and science sectors, including former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, business leader and philanthropist Bill Gates, and World Bank CEO, Kristalina Georgieva.
The agreement comes as the Global Commission on Adaptation calls on governments and businesses to take urgent action to adapt to a changing climate, along with steps to drastically cut carbon emissions.
“In the face of a grave climate emergency, we need to work together and take bold actions to address it. Adapting is a key part of this, and we look forward to working together with the Global Center on Adaptation on innovative ways to adapt to and tackle the climate crisis,” said UNOPS Executive Director Grete Faremo.
The Commission warns that the world’s response to the climate crisis has been “gravely insufficient”, and that failure to adapt will result in a huge economic and human toll, exacerbate poverty, and severely undermine long-term global economic prospects.
“I welcome this agreement between UNOPS and the GCA, as it connects us in our combined effort to accelerate adaptation action,” said the Netherlands’ Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, who attended the agreement signing on behalf of GCA, which is hosted by the Dutch government.
“The Climate Action Summit in New York shows that now is the time to act and we must use this to bring scale and speed to the much-needed climate adaptation solutions,” she added.
As part of the agreement, UNOPS will manage the GCA funds to mobilize action on climate change adaptation. And together with the University of Oxford and UN Environment, UNOPS will also bring its expertise in infrastructure to support governments – particularly the most vulnerable countries – to ensure new infrastructure investments are climate resilient.
