UNCTAD at the twenty-fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24) in December 2018
UNCTAD co-organized and contributed to side events on sustainable transport, international shipping, climate resilience and sustainability, and ocean-related issues, at the twenty-fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland.
These included a joint side event with a focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation for maritime transport, in collaboration with IMO. The double-edged nature of the climate challenge facing both the maritime and whole transport sector was highlighted in this session, among others, by UNCTAD in addition to the risk to trade if ports are not climate change proofed. UNCTAD also contributed to the COP 24 Transport Day; as well as to side events on optimizing the integration of ocean-related issues in NDCs and National Adaptation Plans for the achievement of SDG 14, in collaboration with UN-OCEANS. UNCTAD’s further contribution at COP24 concerned mitigation and resilience action plans for ports, in collaboration with Global Climate Action. Finally, UNCTAD also contributed to a discussion on climate change and the need to protect the rights of the most vulnerable, in collaboration with OHCHR, focusing on synergies between SDG 1, the Paris Agreement, and human rights.