Bill Gates and Ban Ki-moon Are Trying To Fight Climate Change On A Global Level

Coffee farmers in Costa Rica are currently switching to citrus trees due to rising temperatures. Coastal communities in Alaska are now working to create an international framework for climate relocation responding to rising sea levels. Entrepreneurs in Kenya are replenishing mangrove fields in order to shield coastlines against storms.

These are impromptu groups of common people responding in smart ways to the disruptions of climate change. However, economic and political constraints often hamper their efforts.

And that’s a problem Bill Gates, and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon aim to fix.

Together they launched the Global Commission on Adaptation on October 17th, 2018, to identify climate resiliency efforts, mobilize resources in support them, and ensure communities and countries are collaborating by sharing best practices.

They tapped 28 world leaders from 17 different countries to participate in the commission, and they'll be working with the Global Center on Adaptation and the World Resources Institute to achieve their goals.

The duo intends to promote effective climate action in four ways.

Firstly, it aims to make climate resilience widely known among communities and global leaders through their reports and networking efforts. Even though climate resiliency efforts need to be continually updated to accommodate the intensifying risks of climate change, many countries haven't even started to implement broad-based resilience efforts.

Next, the group plans to encourage businesses to incorporate climate resiliency into their bottom lines. Multinational companies are already starting to support the Paris climate agreement and understand that climate change poses an existential risk to several business models.

Third, Gates and Ban want to prioritize the world’s most marginalized people because they are often the most vulnerable to climate change and receive the least help.

Finally, the commission wants to mainstream the idea of global leadership on climate change. Even though the Paris climate agreement marked a breakthrough for global cooperation on the issue, most countries are failing to confront the problem decisively.

The commission will explore those goals in a report which will be released to coincide with the United Nations' Climate Summit in 2019. It'll also develop a series of actions which can be taken around the world.