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Climate and COVID-19. These were the two unmistakable themes of the United Nations General Assembly this year, both taking on a strong sense of urgency as world leaders came together, virtually and to some extent in person, for the annual gathering in New York.
It’s getting serious — maybe. Tl; dr: COVID-19, climate take center stage at hybrid UNGA
“This week has been so consumed by existential threats,” Anjali Dayal, a professor of international politics at Fordham University and a keen U.N. watcher, tells me. “Leaders are talking about things in very stark terms.”
Perhaps that signals a shift in policy, too, as promises to deliver on vaccines and climate change began to take shape. There is no small amount of cynicism connected to UNGA — Trevor Noah calls the event “the annual gathering that honestly could just be a Zoom” — but as several people noted to me, “in this business you have to stay optimistic.” And there are a few reasons to keep the faith this year.
It’s (not) easy being green
Climate change has been a perennial issue at UNGA, but this year it took on a level of importance that may be a “positive jolt” and a sign that real action was on the horizon. Chiefly, China said it would stop financing coal abroad — a big deal, as Beijing is one of the big three financiers of carbon plants overseas. The United States, for its part, announced plans to sharply increase its funding for climate finance to $11 billion, with an eye on making sure the world hits a $100 billion annual target.
Still, the world has waited so long to act on the climate fund that it will now have to be larger, Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said at a Devex event.
“World leaders are saying the right things, but we are still not yet where we need to be,” Claire Healy of E3G, a climate-focused think tank, told me as the week came to a close.
Read: At UN, Biden pledges pivot from fighting wars to climate change
And in Muppets news, Boris Johnson declared his disagreement with famed, though fictional, journalist Kermit the Frog, telling the U.N. that “it is easy being green.” The British prime minister will host the COP 26 summit in Glasgow in several weeks, and that is where the rubber will have to meet the road.
‘Damn unfair’
Leaders of low-income and climate vulnerable nations warned of “death sentences” and “a world of dust” if more is not done to stop global warming and rising sea levels.
As my colleague Adva Saldinger reports, lower-income nations will struggle to go green quickly. U.N. Development Programme chief Achim Steiner told a Devex panel it was “damn unfair” for lower-income countries to be penalized for developing gas power, adding that he was sympathetic to calls for a more “just transition.”
Read: UNDP’s Achim Steiner: Energy is ‘crucial’ to economic progress
One big number
$1.3 billion
—With climate so key this year, the U.N. also held an energy summit on Friday which included a series of more than 100 “energy compacts.” Among them was the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development pledge to invest an additional $1.3 billion by 2030 to finance green energy investments.
ICYMI: Devex Pro subscribers can dive into the details of climate finance with our comprehensive report. Not yet a Pro subscriber? Sign up now and start your 15-day free trial.
Mirror, mirror
New York City is getting back its old self, brimming with energy and life once again. Masks were the standard everywhere at UNGA, and if you wanted to go indoors to eat, you needed to show proof of vaccination.
The hybrid virtual UNGA model did mean there were fewer protestors and less snarling traffic around the building overlooking the East River. Even so, black SUVs, secret services personnel, and U.N.-badged diplomats were still plentiful, in what felt a bit more like normal times.
And spotted outside Saks 5th Avenue: Mirrors with the Sustainable Development Goals. Get your autumn wardrobe and a reminder about water and sanitation.
A dose of reality
“It is just a handful of rich people deciding for the world whose life will be saved and whose won't be saved.”
— Winnie Byanyima, executive director at UNAIDSMuch of the world is still awaiting promised COVID-19 vaccines. Namibian President Hage Geingob used his U.N. address to denounce “vaccine apartheid,” as high-income countries are moving ahead with booster shots before billions of people in other parts of the world get their first dose.
As Byanyima said at a Devex event, while there have been efforts at international coordination, such as COVAX, they have failed to meet targets, and deep vaccine inequity prevails.
Promises made ...
U.S. President Joe Biden pledged the U.S. would donate 500 million more doses by this time next year, bringing Washington’s pledge to more than 1 billion. The president also promised to help ramp up vaccination production around the world.
“We need a coordinated plan and leadership. We need a global action plan,” according to Carolyn Reynolds, a co-founder of the Pandemic Action Network. Biden will now have to muster all his power to spur global vaccination efforts. An early sign of headway was India’s announcement Friday that it would make available, by the end of next month, 8 million vaccine doses, as a step in resuming exports of the vital doses.
Read: After Biden’s COVID-19 summit, questions on whether world will deliver
Also: US DFC commits $383M in insurance to back COVID-19 purchases
The food front
The U.N.’s first and long-awaited Food Systems Summit also took place on the sidelines, and as my colleague Teresa Welsh writes, Guterres had some very serious warnings: “The war on our planet must end, and food systems can help us build that peace.”
Even though there is more than enough food to go around, more than 811 million people still go hungry. The U.S. pledged $10 billion over five years to end food insecurity, while the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $922 million to address nutrition — the largest contribution the organization has made to this issue.
+ Teresa just launched a whole newsletter dedicated to food systems called Devex Dish. Sign up now for a weekly snapshot of how agriculture, nutrition, and sustainability are intersecting to remake the global food system.
K-pop
And there was K-pop, with South Korean boy band BTS dominating social media as UNGA opened, hitting on all the right notes (sorry): climate change, vaccines, and the power of youth.
… And Bob Marley
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley invoked the Jamaican singer-songwriter-musician in her U.N. address, asking “Who will get up and stand up?” in what might have been the only leader's speech to go viral this year.
She implored world leaders to fight in the name of those affected by climate change and who have died due to the pandemic. “If we can find the will to send people to the moon and solve male baldness,” she continued, “we can solve simple problems like letting our people eat at affordable prices.”
To cap it all off
Peru stole the spotlight for a minute or two, primarily because the president wore an iconic hat throughout UNGA.
About the author
Shabtai Gold
Shabtai Gold is a Senior Reporter based in Washington. He covers multilateral development banks, with a focus on the World Bank, along with trends in development finance. Prior to Devex, he worked for the German Press Agency, dpa, for more than a decade, with stints in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, before relocating to Washington to cover politics and business.
