UN climate chief Simon Stiell urges nations to speed up climate action, connect Paris goals to people's lives

New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) Marking 10 years of the Paris Agreement, UN climate chief Simon Stiell has called on countries to "turn the promise of Paris into progress in people's daily lives" by accelerating climate action and linking it directly to economic growth, jobs and well-being.

In a video message to a gathering commemorating a decade since the historic accord, organised by think-tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said the world today is "profoundly different because of Paris", noting that multilateral cooperation under the United Nations has delivered "historic breakthroughs" on climate and continues to produce "concrete outcomes and major steps forward".

Reflecting on the progress since 2015, Stiell said, "Ten years ago in Paris, the world changed course. For the first time, every nation agreed to act to limit global heating, to build resilience and to forge a fairer, safer world." He added that global cooperation has already helped the world avoid "the nightmare path of five degrees of heating", bringing it down closer to three degrees, though "still far too high".

Highlighting how the Paris Agreement's influence can be seen "in boardrooms, courtrooms, city halls and communities", he said clean-energy investment has multiplied 10-fold, with more than USD 2 trillion flowing into renewables last year alone.

Most of the world's GDP is now covered by net-zero pledges, and technologies for adaptation and resilience are advancing, even though climate finance "remains inadequate".

Stiell stressed that the next phase of global climate cooperation must focus on "connecting cabinet rooms to boardrooms to living rooms", emphasising the need to move "from plans to projects, from commitments to real-world impacts". This new era, he said, should ensure that the benefits of climate action -- cleaner air, better health, affordable clean energy and more secure food systems -- reach billions more people.

He pointed to renewable energy, electrification, storage and efficiency as proven solutions, and called for innovation in emerging areas, such as clean industry and resilient infrastructure.

"The economics are overwhelmingly on our side," Stiell said, adding that clean energy is now "cheaper, smarter and fairer", with countries like China and India showing "off-the-charts" investment in renewables.

Finance, he underlined, remains the "key to the era of implementation".

Stiell urged nations to unlock predictable, fair and accessible funding, particularly for vulnerable and developing countries.

"Adequate climate finance fuels the innovation, jobs and resilience that every economy depends on," he said, stressing that scaling up climate finance from USD 300 billion to USD 1.3 trillion annually as agreed at COP29 will be vital.

While acknowledging that the UN process is "working" and delivering results, Stiell warned that climate disasters are "moving faster" and hitting economies harder each year. He said forthcoming UN reports will track where progress has been made and where action is lagging, ahead of COP30, where "nations must respond".

"Ten years on from Paris, let us recognise how far we have come. Let us reaffirm our commitment to Paris and to multilateralism," Stiell said.

He called for "bold action to build security, prosperity and opportunity for billions of people", underscoring that global cooperation is the world's best hope for a just and sustainable future. PTI UZM RC