Running to Zero Carbon

United Nations: The first anniversary of the "Running to Zero Carbon" action has become a global consensus to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030

The "Run to Zero Carbon" action was launched on the "World Environment Day" on June 5, 2020. It aims to bring together the strength and support of enterprises, cities, regions, investors and enterprises to jointly tackle climate change and achieve inclusiveness and sustainability. green growth.

The Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change stated that since the first year of the "Run to Zero Carbon" initiative, the number of small and medium-sized enterprises' participation has increased tenfold, and the number of financial institutions' participation has also increased fivefold. At present, 40% of the companies in the UK FTSE 100 Index have joined this action, and the newly joined well-known companies include Google, Microsoft, Apple and Pfizer.

The Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change stated that the achievements since the first anniversary of the "Run to Zero Carbon" action show that decarbonization as soon as possible is not only a social obligation, but also meets the expectations of business development, and is the road to zero carbon. The only way to grow in the future.

The Secretariat stated that despite the severe impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the participation of the medical industry in the "Run to Zero Carbon" action has not decreased. Currently, more than 3,000 hospitals are working hard to achieve emission reduction targets. For example, Hospital Clínica Bíblica, the largest private hospital in Costa Rica, is installing solar panels on a large scale in order to significantly reduce carbon emissions by using renewable energy.

According to the Secretariat, the sample survey shows that between 2015 and 2019, companies participating in the "Run to Zero Carbon" initiative successfully achieved a 25% annual reduction in emissions, equivalent to a reduction of 302 million tons of carbon emissions. The Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA is striving to achieve 100% renewable energy use in the upstream and downstream of the value chain, while the US online retail giant Amazon has become the world's largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, and has launched 206 renewable energy projects each year. Capable of delivering 23 million megawatt-hours of electricity, it can meet the energy needs of more than 2 million American homes.

Also as one of the participants in the "Running to Zero Carbon" action, Recife, a city in northeastern Brazil, took the lead in including sustainable development and climate change in the compulsory courses of public schools, and was also the first in Brazil to announce that it has entered the "Climate city in a state of emergency.

The Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change stated that the purpose of launching the "Run to Zero Carbon" action is to gather the actions and appeals of non-governmental participants, thereby inspiring governments to set more ambitious "nationally determined contribution targets" for climate action. In the run-up to the first anniversary of the initiative's launch and the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Secretariat will hold an open discussion to invite the public to imagine the future of the "Run to Zero Carbon" initiative.

At the same time, in order to deal with the impacts of climate change, all parties launched the "Run to Resilience" action in January this year, putting climate adaptation and resilience building at the core of climate action, and working together on a global scale Advancing actions to strengthen climate resilience. At present, the action has received the support of more than 1,500 non-governmental participants from more than 80 countries.