Page - (000025) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

increases in energyuse and emissions (Mulder andGroot, 2004).Development and spreadofenergyefficient technologies and renewable energywill playakey role in theprocess (YangandYu2015;Edenhoferetal. 2011).Theadoptionof low-carbon transport systems is alsohighon theagenda (DalkmannandHuizenga2010).While suchmitigationmeasuresareneeded, their impactswill be long-termanddependent onwidespread societal adoption. Even in best scenarios, it will takemany decades before they take effect. According to IPCC (2015), emissions scenarios that keep warmingbelow2 Cover the twenty-firstcenturyrelative topre-industrial levelswill involve40–70%reductionsinglobalanthropogenicemissionsby2050andnear-zero emissionlevelsby2100.AlthoughthisisconsistentwiththeParisAgreementtargets, the current voluntarymitigationefforts by signatory countries fallwell short of this. It is consequently necessary to invest in adaptation to climate change and to enhancesocietalresiliencetoclimatechangeimpacts.Adaptationrefers toreducing the adverse effects of climate change on human and natural systems.At the 2010 UNFCCCconference inCancun,Mexico, the parties adopted theCancunAdapta- tionFramework5affirmingthatadaptationmustbeaddressedwith thesamelevelof priorityasmitigation.Theyfurtheragreedthatadaptationisachallengefacedbyall parties, and that enhancedactionand international cooperation isurgently required to enable and support the implementation of adaptation actions aimed at reducing vulnerabilityandbuildingresilienceindevelopingcountries(para11). IPCC(2015) recognizes thatadaptationoptionsexist inall sectorsbut theircontextandpotential differ between sectors and regions. Furthermore, adaptation and mitigation responses are underpinned by common factors, including effectiveness of institu- tions and governance, innovation and investments in environmentally sound tech- nologies and infrastructure, sustainable livelihoods and behavioural and lifestyle choices (SPM4.1). Several international financial and technical facilities have been set up to help countries address climate change challenges. The Global Environment Facility6 (GEF) has already been in existence for a quarter century as the financialmecha- nism to the UNFCCC. It finances projects in developing countries that focus on mitigation efforts. TheGEF recognizes themultidisciplinary nature ofmitigation. Whilegreenhousegasemission reductions throughpromotionof sustainable trans- port, energy efficiency and renewable energy are important, emissions reductions fromsectors,suchaslanduseandforestryarealsoimportant,as isprotectingglobal carbon sinks like the oceans. TheWorld Bankmanages the Climate Investment Funds7 that operate through four key programmes that help developing countries pilot low-emissionsandclimateresilientdevelopment: theCleanTechnologyFund, Forest InvestmentProgramme,Pilot Programme forClimateResilience, andScal- ing up Renewable Energy Programme. The Adaptation Fund8 helps developing 5http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/cop16/eng/07a01.pdf#page¼4 (downloaded8April 2016). 6https://www.thegef.org/gef/ 7https://www-cif.climateinvestmentfunds.org/ 8https://www.adaptation-fund.org/ 4 J.I.Uitto et al.