2018 is a critical year to step up climate ambition on the road to 2020. The groundswell of climate action by non-party stakeholders creates opportunities for national governments to harvest the experience, resources, and achievements of cities, business, regions, investors, civil society, and others to enhance their own ambition. Summarizing a discussion of these issues held on November 15, 2017, at COP23, this document recommends how this process can unfold in 2018.
In September 2018, the Global Climate Action Summit will mobilize sub-national and private sector actors to advance the low-carbon real economy . A successful summit will signal the opportunities for increased ambition in the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue and COP24 that December, where countries are expected to signal a willingness to enhance ambition in their climate action plans as specified by the ratcheting mechanism of the Paris Agreement. Successful and increasing action by cities, states/regions, businesses, and other non-party actors is a critical signal that the world can reach the Agreement’s objective of staying well below 2° C and pursuing 1.5° C, the urgency of which will be highlighted by the IPCC Special Report on 1.5° C due in 2018.
