An estimated 1,750 global institutional members of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN), including universities and research centres, are to contribute expertise to a Global Climate Hub set up earlier this year.
Phoebe Koundouri, a professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, reminded delegates of the hub and its importance during a high-level session on systems change and climate and sustainability innovations, which was hosted by the United Nations Climate Change Global Innovation Hub at COP27, taking place in Egypt until 18 November.
The Global Climate Hub was launched in July 2022 during a pre-COP27 event at the Academy of Athens in Greece.
The host institutions of the Global Climate Hub are the Athens University of Economics and Business and the Athena Research and Innovation Center in Information Communication and Knowledge Technologies, both of which belong to the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria (AE4RIA).
Koundouri, who is also the chair of the UN SDSN, said the Global Climate Hub aimed at identifying pathways for climate neutrality and resilience in a systematic context where there are multiple crises, for instance, the collapse of biodiversity, as well as economic and geo-political crises.
It is focusing on providing science-driven support to governments and relevant stakeholders across the world, she pointed out at a round table discussion.
“Our goal is to mobilise the implementation of the announced pledges [the Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs] all over the globe in order to reach the 1.5 degrees [Celsius reduction in global temperatures stipulated under the Paris Agreement] within the time limit given and to support the Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] targets in very explicit ways.”
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 which was collated by the UN SDSN has shown slow progress and low performance by nations across the globe in the past two years, particularly in the area of climate action. This is set to have major implications on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals projections.
The climate hub will use extensive data, knowledge and technologies provided by experts in various fields such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop country-specific action plans to be adopted and reinforced through nine different units which stem from the SDGs.
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