Joëlle Welfring at the United Nations General Assembly in New York
As part of the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, Joëlle Welfring, travelled to New York from 19 to 20 September 2023, where she attended the summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the summit on climate ambition.
The Minister also took part in the City Climate Finance Gap Fund round table, focusing on resilience and climate protection in cities, followed by a meeting with the Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund, one of the major players in international climate financing. Finally, a meeting with UN Women was organised to take stock of the new programme launched jointly on the effectiveness of climate action by integrating a gender equality perspective into the international context of climate protection.
Sustainable Development Goals Summit: the importance of accelerated and transformative action up to 2030
Joëlle Welfring, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, attended the summit on the Sustainable Development Goals. The summit marked the halfway point for achieving the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs, and the start of a new phase of accelerated progress towards these goals up to 2030.
Luxembourg's commitment to implementing this vital agenda must be highlighted, particularly through its ambitious National Plan for Sustainable Development (NPSD). In doing so, the Climate Law, the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC) and the National Plan for Nature Protection (PNPN3) are some of Luxembourg's fundamental contributions to achieving the goals, both nationally and globally.
In addition, the "Nohaltegkeetscheck", to which all draft legislation must be submitted, is another key instrument for ensuring that policies are coherent and contribute to sustainable development.
The recommendations made by the leaders during this dialogue were reported at the closing session of the summit, leading to the 2030 target year for achieving the SDGs.
The summit ended with the adoption of a political declaration: in his speech, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: "I am deeply encouraged by the detailed and wide-ranging draft political declaration under consideration here today - especially its commitment to improving developing countries' access to the fuel required for SDG progress: finance. This can be a game-changer in accelerating SDG progress."
City Climate Finance Gap Fund: Luxembourg pledges €15 million to make cities more resilient and climate-friendly
During her visit to New York, Minister Joëlle Welfring took part in the City Climate Finance Gap Fund round table held on 19 September 2023. Created on the initiative of Luxembourg and Germany in collaboration with the European Investment Bank, the City Climate Finance Gap Fund is a major international financing instrument aimed at making cities resilient and climate-friendly. The Fund aims to fill an existing gap in the often high-risk early phase of project development, where many cities lack the capacity and financial means to take project ideas forward. Bearing in mind that more than half the world's population lives in cities and that, according to the United Nations, this figure will rise to 70% by 2050, Joëlle Welfring pointed out that Luxembourg recently increased its contribution to the Gap Fund by €5 million to €15 million.
Green Climate Fund: Luxembourg's contribution increases by 25% for the period 2024 to 2027
The Green Climate Fund is considered to be one of the major players in international climate financing, aiming among other things to support the countries most affected by climate change in their adaptation efforts.
During her meeting with Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund, on 19 September 2023, Minister Joëlle Welfring had the honour of announcing that, as part of the second replenishment process of the Green Climate Fund, Luxembourg will increase its annual contribution by 25% to 12.5 million euros, giving a total of 50 million euros for the period 2024 to 2027. This makes Luxembourg one of the Green Climate Fund member countries with the highest per capita contribution. During the discussion, Minister Joëlle Welfring stressed the importance of promoting concrete projects to support the most vulnerable populations.
Luxembourg and UN Women commit to gender equality in the international context of climate protection
On 19 September, Joëlle Welfing also met Sarah Hendriks, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. The link between gender and climate is an important issue for Luxembourg. In July this year, Luxembourg and UN Women launched a new programme aimed at ensuring that, by 2027, the national climate policies of 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries adopt a gender equality perspective in order to remedy the inequalities of which women are particularly victims. This programme will give greater visibility and a different interpretation of the central role played by women as agents of change in the context of climate protection.
The summit on climate ambition
Finally, Minister Joëlle Welfring took part in the Climate Ambition Summit on 20 September 2023. Convened by the Secretary General of the United Nations, this summit aims to prepare COP28, which will take place at the end of the year in Dubai, in the best possible conditions. The main aim is to encourage governments, businesses, financial sector players, local authorities and civil society as a whole to step up their efforts by listening to the "first movers". The summit represents a decisive political step in demonstrating that there is a real collective global will to act and to accelerate the pace and scale of the transition of our economies, which will inevitably involve a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels. The current lack of ambition is obvious: to limit global warming to 1.5°C, a target firmly enshrined in the Paris Agreement, we need to reduce global emissions by more than 40% by 2030 and 60% by 2035, according to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) synthesis report.
Climate ambition and action have also marked the work of the Luxembourg government in recent years. Since 2020, Luxembourg has had a climate law, limiting its emissions budget from year to year on the road to climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. The results are encouraging: against a backdrop of marked demographic (+40%) and economic (+50%) growth since 2005, Luxembourg has managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.
"Et waren zwee intensiv Deeg mat menger Ekipp hei zu New York. Mee and ass immens motivating ze gesi mat wéi enger Passioun an Engagement déi sëllegen Acteuren hei zesumme komme fir sech fir de Klimaschutz staark ze maachen. Et war mir besonnesch wichteg am dësem Kontext konnten ze annoniere wéi staark Lëtzebuerg sech ënnert anerem duerch finanziell Bäiträg weiderhin um internationale Plang an der Klimakris asetzt. Mee och fir ze weise wat alles vu konkrete Mesuren am Kader vum Klimaschutz, an an der Nohaltegkeet, doheem vun der Regierung zesumme mat de Bierger, de Gemengen an de Betriber zu Lëtzebuerg, schonn ëmgesat gëtt. De Wee an d'Klimaneutralité ass nach laang. Mee mir sollen des Transitioun als eng Chance fir eng besser a méi gerecht Zukunft gesinn an eis weider zesummen duerfir asetzen", Joëlle Welfring, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development.
Press release from the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development