Our third day in Glasgow, and it was great to see a fantastic turnout for our second fringe event during COP26, Race to Resilience Breakfast Briefing – A Business-led Climate Resilience Initiative: Turning Aspirations into Action.
In January of this year, UN High Level Climate Champions Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz launched the #RaceToResilience campaign. Putting adaptation on the same playing field as mitigation, the #RaceToResilience is all about adapting to the locked-in impacts of climate change. We’ve already reached an average global temperature warming of 1.1°C, and the physical impacts of climate change couldn’t have been any clearer to us over the past two years, with wildfires, flooding, drought, and extreme heat disasters occurring across the globe, impacting millions of people and causing billions of dollars in damage. If we reach a 1.5°C world and have failed to build the resilience of our systems, the consequences will be dire.
The #RaceToResilience is all about bringing business together with common purpose, catalysing a step-change in global ambition to protect the world’s 4 billion most vulnerable people by 2030, across three key areas of urban, rural and coastal, so that by 2050, we’re not just surviving – we’re thriving.
Resilience First is one of 25 proud partners in the #RaceToResilience, and this morning we were delighted to welcome three great advocates, making the case for why we need to cross this finishing line together: Payal Thadani, Business Engagement Team, Race to Resilience, UNFCCC’s High Level Climate Champions Team; Peter Hall, VP, Global Director for Sustainable & Resilient Infrastructure, Wood plc; and David Howlett, Co-lead, Race to Resilience, UNFCCC’s High Level Climate Champions Team.
Here are the headlines from our breakfast briefing:
Resilience is global
It doesn’t matter where you live or operate, the systems we all rely on are interconnected. Resilience is a matter for everyone – and we are only as strong as the most vulnerable among us.
This is our chance
The COVID-19 crisis provided ample proof of what happens when we fail to prepare for risk. Now we have the chance to prepare for climate risk and build resilience, putting people and nature first.
Climate resilience and mitigation go hand in hand
The #RaceToZero is critical, but with the locked-in impacts of climate change a stark reality we will have to live with, intelligent adaptation to our context through #RaceToResilience will be key for a safe, inclusive, and prosperous world.
Nature and biodiversity can buffer us from the impacts of climate change, but only if we act to protect, conserve, and regenerate them
Investing in climate resilience is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do
While CEOs focus on achieving Net Zero, there is still work to be done to make resilience mainstream business sense. Resilience benefits people and the planet – but also the bottom line.
We need to plug the climate finance gap
Building resilience works best when it is locally led
Global solutions are required, but we must deliver from a local standpoint – with great stakeholder engagement.
We are delivering now – and momentum is growing
We are mobilising the largest, fastest global coalition of non-state actors on resilience, and we're growing quickly. To find out how you can join the #RaceToResilience and learn more about membership of Resilience First, please contact Beena Chester at bchester@resiliencefirst.co.uk.
