The Race To Resilience is a global umbrella campaign – the sibling to Race To Zero. It was launched at the Climate Adaptation Summit on 25th January 2021 by Alok Sharma as COP26 President designate, with opening remarks by Ban Ki-Moon, 8th Secretary General of the United Nations.
The Race to Zero and Race to Resilience are equally vital to realising the promise of the Paris Agreement. We need to run these races together, at the same time and win them both to create a healthy, resilient, zero carbon future. By running these races together, we can ensure that all our communities don’t just survive climate shocks and stresses, but thrive in spite of them.
The goal of the campaign is, by 2030, to catalyse action by non-state actors that builds the resilience of four billion people from groups and communities who are vulnerable to climate risks. Through a partnership of initiatives, the campaign will focus on helping frontline communities to build resilience and adapt to impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, drought, flooding and sea-level rise. This includes transforming urban slums into healthy, clean and safe cities; equipping smallholder farmers to adapt and thrive; and protecting homes and businesses against climate shocks.
The Race to Resilience aims to share knowledge, both ancient and modern, from all corners of the world. This includes knowledge that helps us understand and imagine transformative resilience. It will champion capacity building and local action as a core part of the race.
Of course, resilient climate action is only possible with the involvement of all stakeholders such as businesses, investors, civil society and cities as a whole. This notion is becoming increasingly important amidst the global COVID-19 crisis and therefore all efforts toward resilient climate action also contributes to delivering a green and just recovery post-COVID-19.
United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), is the Southeast Asia Secretariat for Global Covenant of Mayors, a global alliance of cities and local governments voluntarily committed to combat climate change and implement the Paris Agreement, in order to accelerate measurable climate and energy initiatives that lead to an inclusive, low-emission and climate resilient future. In fulfilling its role as Secretariat, UCLG ASPAC as the largest regional section of UCLG, is collaborating with ICLEI offices in the Asia-Pacific region are gathering more and more cities and regions to join and express their commitments and meet challenges. It is evident that it is an important network to support priorities regarding the climate agenda, complete with opportunities and also challenges that require all to be involved, including consolidation amongst networks of local and regional governments.
For more information on Global Campaign Race to Zero Race to Resilience, please visit:
