Nairobi, 29 April 2016 – The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today launched its 2015 Annual Report website and print, highlighting many achievements in support of sustainable development, including the redirection of hundreds of billions of dollars in private capital to a better future for all humanity.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, “The year 2015 will be remembered as a turning point for the environmental agenda. The international community set pivotal tracks for sustainability by adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement-demonstrating a unity of purpose that places us more firmly on the path to a sustainable future.”
“These are victories for multilateralism, which the United Nations embodies like no other organization. They are also milestones for the environment, which UNEP has championed for over four decades-presenting cutting-edge science through the Emissions Gap and Global Environment Outlook assessments to assist nations to understand and develop their policy and management responses.”
The Annual Report 2015 demonstrates UNEP’s key contributions to both global processes, such as helping nations develop their climate pledges and mobilize billions of dollars in support of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative.
This initiative-led by Africa and supported by UNEP and key partners in the international community-will provide clean power to millions across the continent, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the air pollution that claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year. This triple gain on access to energy, climate and human health is exactly the kind of result needed to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
Finance is central to all sustainable aspirations, and the Annual Report highlights UNEP’s role in bringing private capital to bear on key challenges. For example, under the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition, which is led by UNEP and partners, over two dozen major institutional investors had by December 2015 committed to decarbonize over $600 billion of assets under management.
“These financial steps, just examples of the many underway, represent investments that can bolster the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement,” said Mr. Steiner. “Now we must shed light on best practices to prompt the mainstream of our economies and markets to follow-as UNEP is doing through the Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, which in 2015 released its ground-breaking report on how to harness the assets of the world’s financial system for sustainability.”
UNEP projects such as ProEcoServ continued to demonstrate that recognizing that the tangible economic benefits of ecosystems is central to creating inclusive green economies and lifting millions of people out of poverty. The project identified over $1 billion dollars of economic benefits from ecosystems in just four countries.
The report also focuses on how UNEP is helping to improve lives - from supporting Colombian farmers as they adapt to climate change to playing a key role in developing sustainable rice standards that will benefit millions of farmers across Asia.
It demonstrates how the world can achieve sustainable development and fight climate change by focusing on solutions that drive an inclusive green economy: increased renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, conserving and expanding forest cover through initiatives such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), the sound management of chemicals and embedding sustainable consumption and production practices at every level of society, to name but a few. These are all areas in which UNEP, in collaboration with many inspiring partners, has led the way.
Working through dozens of global initiatives and multilateral agreements, and hundreds of partnerships, UNEP will continue to build on the successes of 2015. Through its Medium-Term Strategy and Programme of Work, it will deliver on the 2030 Agenda and convene the global environmental community to do the same. One such opportunity will come in May 2016, when UNEP hosts the second United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) at UNEP’s headquarters in Nairobi.
You can view the report and download PDFs in all six UN languages at www.unep.org/annualreport
