Download Report

The United Nations Environment Programme works across these six sectors to support the transition to a low-carbon, more resilient future where we reduce emissions and ensure the six sectors can also adapt to the climate impacts that are expected.

We enable science-based decision-making, capacity support and institutional strengthening and provide tools and guidance on legal and financial frameworks that enable climate-smart development.

We know how to solve the climate crisis, but it will only be possible if we rise to the challenge and embrace the opportunities together.

Contact Us

Energy

Actions are required at every level: government, private sector and the public.

  • Commit to more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions and energy transition strategies
  • Set national and sub-national decarbonization and net-zero carbon targets
  • Halt policies that support the fossil fuel industry, including excessive subsidies
  • Introduce policies that incentivize renewable energy and promote energy efficiency
  • Monitor and reduce your company’s energy usage and strive for energy efficiency
  • Embrace the opportunities that a transition to renewable energy will create across your supply chains
  • Divest holdings in fossil fuel companies
  • Set decarbonization and net-zero carbon targets
  • Urge your politicians to propose and vote for ambitious policies for renewable energy and energy efficiency
  • Push for and support policies for renewable energy and energy efficiency
  • Speak up at work to make renewable energy and reduction a collective issue
  • Advocate for renewable energy and energy efficiency in your organization
  • Talk to friends about the need for renewable energy and energy efficiency
  • Attend or arrange events or communities in support for renewable energy and energy efficiency
  • Join a local or national organization supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency
  • Understand how much energy you use and try to consume less of it
  • Use energy that comes from renewable sources if possible
  • Divest from investments or pension funds investing in fossil fuels
  • If possible, choose utilities and operators committed to decarbonization and energy efficiency

Explore More

Reports
Stories
People

Industry

Actions are required at every level: government, private sector and the public.

  • Impose and strengthen energy efficiency standards
  • Price carbon — this will facilitate the drawdown of carbon-intensive technologies and promote more sustainable alternatives
  • Promote the use of efficient and renewable heating and cooling
  • Incentivize and mandate less emissions of greenhouse gases, including cutting methane leaks
  • Scale up research and development to create new options for low-carbon industrial processes
  • Audit the energy use and resource efficiency of your operations to identify cost-effective high-impact reductions
  • Understand your exposure to climate risk and take precautions
  • Embrace the opportunities associated with renewable energy and resource efficiency
  • Be a leader in sustainable industrial practices
  • Urge your politicians to propose ambitious policies for energy efficiency and to put a price on carbon
  • Push for and support policies for energy efficiency and a price on carbon
  • Speak up at work to make energy efficiency a collective issue
  • Advocate for clean energy in your organization
  • Talk to friends about the need for renewable energy and a price on carbon
  • Attend or arrange events or communities for climate action
  • Reduce, reuse, repair and recycle what you consume
  • Ask companies and governments for information about how they produce and source both goods and services; read up on their commitments to sustainable production and practices
  • Ask companies and government bodies for sustainable options
  • Support companies that practice sustainable and circular practices; for example, patronize businesses that provide spare parts, offer take-back services to reclaim used goods and use recycled materials.

Explore More

Reports
Stories
People

Agriculture, Food & Waste

Actions are required at every level: government, private sector and the public.

  • Measure food loss, create waste baselines and implement strategies to reduce food waste
  • Set and promote science-based targets to increase the availability and uptake of plant-rich diets, increase sustainable production and minimize food waste
  • Inform consumers and producers about food choices and how to reduce food loss waste across the supply chain
  • Align national diet recommendations with climate goals
  • Promote and support climate-smart and sustainable agriculture practices
  • Measure and report company food loss and waste
  • Adopt a corporate commitment to halve food loss and waste by 2030
  • Work with suppliers and clients to find solutions that reduce food loss and waste across the supply chain, targeting waste hotspots like weak links in the cold chain
  • Review packaging, provide clear storage and freezing guidance, eliminate ‘display until’ dates and clarify best before/use-by dates
  • Avoid ‘Buy One Get One Free’ food promotions if they are likely to cause customers to buy more than they can eat
  • Repurpose extra-ripe foods in-store
  • Integrate corporate food loss and waste strategies across your company, including by making it easier for consumers and employees to limit their food waste
  • Set up processes for surplus food rescue to transfer healthy, uneaten food to services who can distribute it to those in need
  • Urge your politicians to propose ambitious policies for waste reduction and nature-based agriculture
  • Push for and support policies for waste reduction and nature-based agriculture
  • Speak up at work to make waste reduction a collective issue
  • Advocate for waste reduction and nature-based agriculture in your organization
  • Talk to friends about the need for waste reduction and nature-based agriculture
  • Attend or arrange events or communities for waste reduction and nature-based agriculture
  • Shift towards a more plant-rich diet
  • Plan meals, write shopping lists, use portion-sizing tools for rice and pasta and cook with leftovers
  • Buy only what you can eat or save
  • Embrace ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables
  • Store food to maximize freshness, including by freezing food when appropriate if possible
  • Share excess with services who can distribute it to the needy
  • Compost food scraps
  • Ask grocery stores, restaurants and hotels to tackle food loss and champion those who lead the way
  • Eat seasonally and locally when possible

Explore More

Reports
Stories
People

Nature-based Solutions

Actions are required at every level: government, private sector and the public.

  • Halve tropical deforestation by 2025 and stop net deforestation by 2030 globally
  • Stop policies and subsidies that incentivize deforestation and peatlands degradation and promote their restoration
  • The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It runs through 2030, which is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals and the timeline scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.
  • Restore 150 million hectares of forests and other landscapes by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030 – the two primary goals of the Bonn Challenge
  • Systematically monitor and evaluate the progress of conservation and restoration efforts
  • Work with suppliers to find collaborative solutions to minimize ecosystem impacts across the supply chain
  • Invest in landscape conservation and restoration as part of net-zero emission efforts; investments must meet high social and environmental standards
  • Promote investments in deforestation and peatlands drainage-free supply chains.
  • Join a local or national organization supporting forest and peatlands habitat conservation and restoration
  • Adopt a diet that reduces forest habitat loss, peatlands drainage and degradation by shopping locally and in season and purchasing products with deforestation-free and peatlands drainage-free ingredients, when possible.
  • Whenever possible, neutralize your carbon footprint through investments in natural carbon sinks, such as forests and peatlands.
  • Work with suppliers to find collaborative solutions to minimize ecosystem impacts across the supply chain
  • Invest in landscape conservation and restoration as part of net-zero emission efforts; investments must meet high social and environmental standards
  • Promote investments in deforestation-free supply chains.
  • Consider overlaps between making your supply chain climate resilient and restoring forests and ecosystems - and make it happen.
  • Urge your politicians to propose ambitious regulation against deforestation and for nature restoration
  • Push for and support policies against deforestation and for nature restoration
  • Speak up at work against deforestation and for nature restoration
  • Advocate against deforestation and for nature restoration in your organization
  • Talk to friends about the need for nature restoration
  • Attend or arrange events or communities against deforestation and for nature restoration
  • Join a local or national organization supporting forest habitat conservation and restoration
  • Adopt a diet that reduces forest habitat loss and degradation by shopping locally and in season and purchasing products with deforestation-free ingredients, when possible
  • Whenever possible, neutralize your carbon footprint through investments in natural carbon sinks, such as forests

Explore More

Reports
Stories
People

Transport