Category: World Wildlife Fund

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Today, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. To celebrate, WWF has released the following statement:

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws. Since 1973, the Endangered Species Act has prevented 99% of its listed species from extinction and has served as a global model for responsible wildlife protection. The Act represents one of the most significant innovations in conservation due to its comprehensive protection for species and their habitats, its science-based approach, its citizen engagement, interagency cooperation and the development of recovery plans and programs.

The Endangered Species Act plays a vital role in maintaining biodiversity which is crucial for ecosystem resilience and human health and wellbeing. It is increasingly important in the context of climate change, as shifting climates add additional stress on already struggling threatened and endangered wildlife.

World Wildlife Fund is deeply committed to amplifying the impact of the Endangered Species Act, and of the people whose lives and livelihoods depend upon its success. We work with local communities to implement conservation solutions that advance recovery of listed species like the black-footed ferret, one of North America’s most endangered mammals. The Endangered Species Act enabled the establishment of captive breeding programs and reintroductions to facilitate black-footed ferret recovery. Black-footed ferrets are on the brink of extinction due to habitat loss and sylvatic plague, a non-native disease lethal to both ferrets and prairie dogs, their main prey. Currently, there are about 390 ferrets in the wild, which is far below the 3,000 needed to achieve recovery.

Novel techniques and tools, including thermal cameras to detect ferrets at night and plague-protecting baits and vaccines, are vital to safeguarding this species. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act and collective efforts of many partners and innovative interventions, this masked bandit of the prairie now has a second chance to survive and thrive. On this day, WWF thanks and celebrates our partnerships with Native Nations, federal, state, and private entities, who are guiding the work to restore black-footed ferrets.

This anniversary of the Endangered Species Act underscores the importance of continued commitment, innovative conservation strategies, and ambitious cooperation to ensure that endangered species are protected for future generations. The 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act is a chance to reflect on the progress made and strengthen our resolve to address the complex ecological issues of our time.

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Last week, the UNFCCC released the cover decision from COP28 in Dubai. In response, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released the following statement from Marcene Mitchell, senior vice president of climate change:

For the first time, the final decision of the UNFCCC COP28 contains a commitment to transition away from fossil fuels. While this provides a long-awaited acknowledgment that the burning of coal, oil and gas is the main cause of global warming, the language falls short of a clear call for the phase out of all fossil fuels. The agreed upon language remains insufficient to meet the moment and requires further global action to keep 1.5°C alive in this decisive decade. We must persist with necessary urgency and not fall back on unrealistic promises that carbon capture technologies or “transition fuels” will solve the climate crisis.

We know from our lived experiences that floods, heat waves, storms and wildfires are threatening our way of living. Across the globe, 2 billion people are living through drought that threatens food and water security that can quickly become the source of political conflict and regional instability. We must put aside excuses and act on the need to leave our fossil fuel powered past behind.

The early decision at COP to operationalize the Loss and Damage fund for climate vulnerable nations was an important step in the right direction. So was the pledge by 130 countries to triple the amount of renewable energy deployed and double the rate of energy efficiency. This must be followed up by more ambition and funding to help countries adapt to rising temperatures and preserve nature as our main ally in the fight against climate change. As we leave Dubai and prepare for COP29 in Baku, we must move the needle on carbon pollution. The tide has turned on the era of fossil fuels and now is the time to secure a livable future for ourselves, our children and our planet.

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Today, World Wildlife Fund’s ReSource: Plastic program released its fourth annual public report, Transparent 2023, revealing how some of the world’s largest brands are tracking, measuring, and reporting on their respective plastic footprints. The data compiled in the report reveals insights and in-depth recommendations on tackling plastic waste within internal, corporate supply chains, and across wider multi-stakeholder efforts. The elimination of unnecessary, single-use plastic continues to be the most important action that companies can take to directly address the plastic pollution crisis through their own portfolios.

Transparent 2023 examines the plastic footprints of ReSource Members Amcor, Colgate-Palmolive, CVS Health, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Keurig Dr Pepper, McDonald’s Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, and The Coca-Cola Company. The report captures each company’s plastic by polymer type and form, their use of recycled content and sustainably sourced biobased content, and the likely waste management pathways for the aggregate portfolio. The comprehensive report includes progress made by each ReSource Member from 2021 to 2022 and compares year-over-year results for legacy Members.

“All companies should be reporting on their plastic footprint—something we are advocating for in the UN Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution,” said Erin Simon, vice president of plastic waste + business at World Wildlife Fund. “ReSource Member companies are ahead of the curve, demonstrating that plastic reporting is not an onerous or impossible task. Their transparency enables lessons to be learned and actions to be taken that will reverberate across supply chains and industries worldwide.”

For the first time, ReSource is collecting comprehensive data from its Members on reuse efforts with the hope of sharing learnings on the best ways to eliminate plastic waste. WWF sees reuse systems emerging as a key strategy, with all nine Members exploring reuse in some capacity. This year’s Transparent report also measured progress and captured invaluable insights across four areas, including: eliminating unnecessary plastic, doubling global recycling and composting, shifting to sustainable inputs for remaining plastic, and improving data harmonization.

As for the 2023 key findings, please see the below top-level highlights:

• Five ReSource Members saw an overall reduction in their virgin fossil-based plastic tonnage from 2021 to 2022.
• Of the nine Members, four have reduced and five have increased their absolute tonnage of plastic since their baseline.
• Despite progress in some areas, the total weight of plastic in the aggregate portfolio increased by 0.8% to 7.26 million metric tons in 2022 from 7.20 million metric tons in 2021.
• Overall, ReSource Members have made progress to reduce problematic plastics. In 2022, these products made up 1.2% of Member portfolios, which is less than half of the 3.2% in the 2018 baseline year.
• Among ReSource Members, the use of recycled content has increased to 12% in 2022 from 10.2% in 2021.
• The share of packaging that is recyclable has increased to 72.5% in 2022 from 70.4% in 2021.

Learn more about how ReSource measures and analyzes data through the ReSource Footprint Tracker here.

WWF recently joined the Steering Committee of the Scaling Plastics Disclosure initiative to inform and support the expansion of the CDP’s plastic questionnaire. As the CDP questionnaire becomes increasingly robust and comprehensive, our intent is for it to replace the mandatory annual reporting for ReSource Members that currently occurs through the ReSource Footprint Tracker. As part of the Scaling Plastics Disclosure initiative and ReSource: Plastic, the ReSource Footprint Tracker serves as a tool for companies wishing to understand not only the amount and the kinds of plastics they are releasing into the market, but also the waste and leakage being generated as a result. It also provides a common framework for companies to report on their plastic impact.

Understanding the scope of the problem through plastic reporting is the first step to addressing plastic pollution. ReSource Members are demonstrating that plastic reporting is possible. However, voluntary corporate action is not sufficient to address the scale and urgency of the plastic waste crisis. National and international policy action, through a legally binding Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution and Extended Producer Responsibility legislation, is critical to ensuring a future free of plastic waste. Six out of nine Members are actively engaged in the Global Treaty process.

To view the full report, click here. To view the executive summary, click here.

About World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

WWF is one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, working in nearly 100 countries for over half a century to help people and nature thrive. With the support of more than 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat the climate crisis. Visit http://www.worldwildlife.org to learn more and keep up with the latest conservation news by following @WWFNews on Twitter and signing up for our newsletter and news alerts here.

ReSource: Plastic Member Quotes

Amcor

“In addition to doing our job of helping to deliver products safely, we also make our packaging more circular by designing for recyclability, lowering the demand for virgin resources and using more recycled content. We have increased our target on recycled content use across the Amcor portfolio to 30% by 2030 and were the first global packaging company to pledge to design all our products to be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025.” He added, “However, all of us in the packaging value chain need to work together to ensure that recycling infrastructure is in place, feasible reuse systems are introduced, and that consumers are engaged to use those systems to return used packages to be recycled or used over and over again.” — David Clark, Amcor’s Vice President of Sustainability.

Colgate

“At Colgate-Palmolive we are excited to continue our partnership with WWF’s ReSource program. WWF and our peer companies have worked hard to facilitate a key collaborative network that moves forward our sustainability ambition to Eliminate Plastic Waste. The WWF ReSource program is also supporting our collective work toward an ambitious UN Plastic Pollution Treaty.” -Ann Tracy, CSO

Keurig Dr Pepper

“Keurig Dr Pepper’s packaging strategy is centered on advancing the use of more sustainable packaging materials and designs that use less virgin plastic. We continue to make progress against our ambitious 2025 sustainable packaging goals, including the increase of post-consumer recycled content across our plastic packaging from 11% in 2021 to 18% in 2022. We appreciate the WWF’s ReSource: Plastic program with data-driven recommendations to help drive industry focus on high impact actions.” – Charlie Schwarze, Senior Director of Sustainability, Keurig Dr Pepper

The Coca Cola Company

“In partnership with others, we are addressing the critical issue of packaging waste. Our goal is to help create a circular economy by 2030 where we get every bottle back so that none of it ends up as litter or in the oceans. We’ve set ambitious packaging goals for our business to help eliminate waste and increase reuse across the Coca-Cola system. We have made progress and recognize we have much more to do. We know by partnering with other organizations and across sectors, we can achieve more. That’s why we support a global treaty on marine plastic pollution and well-designed Extended Producer Responsibility legislation. We believe these efforts will help drive a more consistent approach to recycling infrastructure planning, investment and implementation across the world.” — Michael Goltzman, Global Vice President, Public Policy, Environmental Sustainability and Social Impact

Starbucks

“At Starbucks, our environmental promise to give back more than we take from the planet underpins our efforts to cut our waste, water, and carbon footprints in half by 2030. To further our waste reduction, we’ve continued our shift toward reusables, with 20 reusable cup tests in markets around the world, as well as industry-leading single-use packaging solutions, like the recent roll out of our FSC-certified single-use cup made with 30% recycled material and 25% less plastic in the liner and our transition to 100% rPET Ethos water bottles in US and Canada. As we look to the future to meet our ambitious goals, programs like ReSource are key for collaboration across sectors to drive meaningful progress,” – Starbucks chief sustainability officer, Michael Kobori.

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Dec. 13): In a significant moment for global climate action, countries at the COP28 UN climate summit have agreed to transition away from fossil fuels, but fail to commit to a full phase-out.

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF Global Climate and Energy Lead, and COP20 President, said: “The Earth is down but not out, as countries agree to transition away from fossil fuels but fall short of consensus on the full phase-out of coal, oil, and gas at COP28. Nevertheless, a decision to transition away from fossil fuels is a significant moment. After three decades of UN climate negotiations, countries have at last shifted the focus to the polluting fossil fuels driving the climate crisis. This outcome signals the beginning of the end for the fossil fuel era.

“It is unfortunate that the outcome suggests a role for dangerous distractions such as large-scale carbon capture utilization and storage and ‘transitional fuels.’ For a liveable planet, we still need a full phase-out of all fossil fuels and will continue working towards that.

“The Global Stocktake is clear that eight years on from the Paris Agreement, we are still way off course to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis. In this critical decade, all countries must enhance the ambition and implementation of climate action. It is vital that countries work now to transform their energy systems and replace polluting fossil fuels with clean and cheaper renewable energy, such as wind and solar, at an unprecedented speed and scale.”

Stephen Cornelius, WWF Deputy Global Climate and Energy Lead, said: “Finance is key to unlocking climate action. The early decision to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund was a critical step. The many pledges we have heard at COP28, while welcome, are a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed. The funding pot will now need to grow by orders of magnitude to adequately help people in harm’s way. The need for loss and damage and adaptation funding will only continue to rise rapidly if countries do not invest more in cutting emissions and phasing out polluting fossil fuels.”

Fernanda Carvalho, WWF Global Climate and Energy Policy Lead, said: “Along with phasing out fossil fuels, nature is integral to effective climate action. It is disappointing to see countries not including the recommendation by the IPCC to protect 30 to 50% of all ecosystems. This should have been the moment where countries committed to tackle the climate and nature emergencies in parallel. Action to restore nature and transform food systems is vital to reduce emissions and build greater resilience to rising temperatures. While countries again recognized the importance of nature-based solutions, we should have seen ambition on combined climate-nature action increasing, particularly in the wake of the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed this time last year.”

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Source: World Wildlife Fund

NEW YORK, NY – December 5, 2023) – Building on the success of the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment (PCFWC), nonprofit partners ReFED and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today announced the formation of the U.S. Food Waste Pact – a national voluntary agreement enabling pre-competitive collaboration and data-driven action to reach national and international food waste reduction targets, including United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. The U.S. Food Waste Pact is designed to go beyond commitment setting to drive meaningful progress on food waste reduction, as well as serve as a connective fabric to support other national and regional food waste efforts across the country.

In the U.S., 38% of all food goes unsold or uneaten – a $444 billion opportunity for the nation, including $250 billion for food businesses alone. Food waste is contributing 6% to our national greenhouse gas emissions and consuming more than 20% of our nation’s freshwater supply, all while one in eight Americans face food insecurity. The U.S. Food Waste Pact will deliver on the urgent need for a national strategy and partnership to accelerate food waste reduction, which has been identified as a top solution to climate change.

The Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, which launched in 2019, has been a model for this pre-competitive collaborative approach to driving action in the U.S. From the outset, leaders of the PCFWC intended to build and prove a model that could scale. Five years later, formation of the U.S. Food Waste Pact is the fulfillment of that vision and currently includes participation by multiple PCFWC business signatories and other national players, including ALDI, Aramark, Bob’s Red Mill, Compass Group USA, Del Monte Fresh Produce Company, Lamb Weston, Inc., Raley’s, Sodexo USA, Walmart, Inc., and Whole Foods Market – with additional businesses encouraged to join.

The U.S. Food Waste Pact is designed around the global framework of “Target, Measure, Act,” and food businesses joining the U.S. Food Waste Pact (“Signatories”) will agree to work together alongside their industry peers toward a 50% reduction in food waste, measure and report food waste data to the U.S. Food Waste Pact annually, and participate in working groups and pilot projects to test, implement, and scale cost-effective and high-impact solutions.

“The U.S. Food Waste Pact is all about measuring and seeing action to reduce food loss and waste,” said Pete Pearson, Global Initiative Lead, Food Circularity at WWF. “Through our work with the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, we’ve seen how businesses respond when we help them identify the problems within their operations and also offer solutions and insights to fix them. This new initiative serves as a national platform for the private sector to show measured progress against their waste reduction goals.”

Leveraging best-in-class data methodologies, tools, and resources, the U.S. Food Waste Pact will provide Signatories with detailed custom waste analytics, industry benchmarking, and solution roadmaps, as well as human and financial resources to support pilot projects among Signatory participants. The U.S. Food Waste Pact will anonymize and aggregate the Signatories’ reported waste data before publicly sharing the results in an annual report, providing unique and valuable detailed insights into waste trends year upon year to benefit the entire industry.

“This level of industry collaboration to reduce food waste is unprecedented and exactly what is needed to successfully address such a systems-level problem.” said Dana Gunders, Executive Director of ReFED. “The data component of the Pact – from within their own operations and from across their sector – is critical to enabling our business partners to identify where to focus their resources, while also benchmarking their efforts against the rest of the industry. Those types of insights aren’t available to businesses right now.”

The U.S. Food Waste Pact provides a unique opportunity for food businesses to further their sustainability efforts by working collaboratively to drive food waste reduction. Working with ReFED and WWF – along with WRAP UK serving as an advisor – Signatories to the U.S. Food Waste Pact will receive a range of benefits, including:

• Return on Investment – Food waste reduction programs around the world have shown proven significant return on investment for all types of food businesses;
• Data Insights – Aggregated anonymous reporting from all signatories enables businesses to measure their progress, identify priority areas of action, and benchmark against competitors; and
• Industry Collaboration – Pre-competitive working groups open to all signatories offer opportunities for businesses to learn from each other’s successes; discuss solutions to challenges; and engage with government leaders through special policy roundtable discussions.

Beyond the U.S. Food Waste Pact’s commitment to accelerating action, it also intends to provide the missing connection between other national and regional programs for businesses to reduce food loss and waste, such as the Food Waste Reduction Alliance and U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions by the USDA and EPA, as well as global efforts like World Resources Institute’s 10x20x30 initiative. The U.S. Food Waste Pact will complement and support these existing efforts by providing direct support for businesses who have committed to take action. In addition to the PCFWC, the U.S. Food Waste Pact has also been inspired by similar global initiatives managed by WRAP, including the Courtauld Commitment in the U.K. and Pacto Por La Comida in Mexico, which have demonstrated the benefits of businesses working together to achieve sustainability goals.

“As a partner of the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, WRAP together with ReFED and WWF share an ambition to scale-up action addressing food loss and waste in the US, and contribute significantly to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. WRAP is delighted to continue this strong association as an advisor for the Food Waste Pact and contribute to the success of this initiative.” said David Rogers, International Director of WRAP. “Over the last twenty years, we have worked with partners from Mexico to Australia via South Africa and Indonesia to establish nation-specific programmes tackling food loss and waste, from farm to fork. The US Food Waste Pact is a crucial addition to this international network, enabling national delivery in the US to complement that of other nations and delivery globally on a key environmental issue facing every nation on Earth.”

For more information about the U.S. Food Waste Pact, visit http://usfoodwastepact.org/

QUOTES FROM FOOD BUSINESS SIGNATORIES AND OTHERS:

“Two years ago at COP26, Walmart joined several other retail grocers, suppliers and manufacturers to launch a new public-private partnership through the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment because we believe strongly in purposeful transparency. The PCFWC has been a strong driver in helping us evolve our data collection and reporting on food waste and better understand areas for action. Today, we are proud to be a part of the expanded U.S. Food Waste Pact as we continue our journey to reduce food waste across the value chain. Our commitment remains to galvanize action across the retail and consumer goods sector on demonstrably reducing food waste through advocacy, supplier engagement, philanthropy and innovation.”

Chris Franke, Senior Manager, Global Sustainability, Walmart, Inc.

“At Whole Foods Market, food waste reduction is integral to our purpose to nourish people and the planet. We’re committed to minimizing food waste in our stores, keeping waste that cannot be avoided out of landfills, and increasing access to food in our local and global communities through robust food donation programs at every one of our stores. We’re proud to join the U.S. Food Waste Pact alongside a tremendous group of retailers, building on our longstanding commitment to people, the environment and our communities.”

Caitlin Leibert, Vice President, Sustainability, Whole Foods Market

“The ability to work pre-competitively with our food service peers to take action through both collaborative conversation and pilot projects has been a powerful tool in identifying solutions that turn discussion into tangible progress on reducing food waste. We look forward to the opportunities the expanded scope of the U.S. Food Waste Pact will bring to our food waste reduction efforts.”

Marie Davis, Program Development and Engagement Director, Aramark

“As a global grower of fresh produce, Fresh Del Monte takes food waste and food scarcity seriously. Reducing food waste lowers greenhouse gas emissions and minimizes the waste of valuable resources. We are proud to be a part of the PCFWC — the alliance is a part of our approach to reducing food waste. The expanded U.S Food Waste Pact will allow us to further our own efforts to reduce food waste, and also encourage others to set their own goals, and contribute to the wider progress of the Pact.”

Hans Sauter, SVP, R&D and Agricultural Services, Chief Sustainability Officer, Fresh Del Monte

“Since its founding, Bob’s Red Mill has valued wholesome nutrition that serves the planet and its people. Our sustainability efforts are paramount to providing the best quality product in the healthiest and most environmentally friendly way, and reducing food waste has been a cornerstone of those efforts. After successfully participating in a number of Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment initiatives, we are proud to be among the first businesses to sign on with the U.S. Food Waste Pact. We know this national expansion will be instrumental to continuing our waste reduction efforts, and we are excited to work collaboratively with other signatories to reach the common goal of reducing food waste across the country.”

Meghan Keeley, VP of Supply Chain, Bob’s Red Mill

“FMI – the Food Industry Association and our members have a longstanding commitment to reducing food waste across the entire value chain. The newly established U.S. Food Waste Pact will empower food businesses with new tools and resources to take bold steps in addressing one of the most solvable challenges affecting our food system – reducing food waste.”

Andy Harig, Vice President – Tax, Trade, Sustainability, & Policy Development, FMI – The Food Industry Association; Retail Lead, Food Waste Reduction Alliance

“Food businesses are increasingly realizing the economic, environmental and social benefits of reducing food waste. The formation of the U.S. Food Waste Pact will provide new insights and strategies on the fight against food waste in the U.S. This collaboration will also help to accelerate existing efforts to cut food waste, both in the US and globally.”

Dr. Liz Goodwin, Senior Fellow and Director, Food Loss and Waste, World Resources Institute

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Stockholm, Sweden – 4 December, 2023 – In a groundbreaking study recently published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, WWF and MIX Research have developed an innovative method for collecting and analyzing environmental DNA (eDNA) from the snow tracks of polar bears, Eurasian lynx, and snow leopards. This pioneering approach enriches the conservation toolkit with a new tool to protect these enigmatic species and their remote habitats.

The focus of this collaborative effort has been on extracting environmental DNA (eDNA) from polar bear footprints, offering an unobtrusive, non-invasive approach to studying wildlife populations. By analyzing trace amounts of eDNA from polar bear tracks in the snow in Alaska, the team achieved a groundbreaking feat. In MIX Research’s lab in Sweden, they successfully isolated and sequenced eDNA from the cells’ nuclei, allowing them to genetically profile each individual bear.

What sets this innovative technique apart from earlier eDNA methodologies using animals’ footprints, is its ability to retrieve nuclear DNA from the tracks. This unlocks more extensive insights into species, including individual identification, understanding population interconnections, and unraveling migration patterns and behaviors.

Unlike conventional research methods that require closer interaction with the bears, eDNA collection allows for vital data to be gathered without disturbing the animals, opening doors for local communities, volunteers, and non-scientists to participate in monitoring efforts and management of polar bears and other species that leave tracks in the snow.

Dr Micaela Hellström, lead researcher at MIX Research, describes the work as being a “DNA detective” – using careful techniques to extract valuable insights from the footprints, much like forensic scientists unravel mysteries in criminal investigations

“From a ski trip in the Swedish forests, where I collected snow from otter tracks, an unexpected polar bear project emerged, featuring a collaborative dream-team. With expertise from WWF on polar bear conservation and insights from Indigenous communities on the bear-human perspective, I was able to contribute by developing cutting edge genetic tools”, says Dr Micaela Hellström.

“Polar bears are notoriously difficult to study, but our research aims to create opportunities for collecting more data ” says Elisabeth Kruger, Manager, Arctic Wildlife at WWF-US in Alaska.

This method marks a significant step forward in wildlife conservation, equipping researchers with a new tool to augment existing ones for gathering information about polar bear populations. These iconic animals face imminent threats due to the climate crisis, which is melting their sea ice habitat. Understanding their movements, genetic interactions, and behaviors is of utmost importance for their conservation and management. Success in using the method for snow leopard and lynx snow tracks offers much promise that it can contribute to the conservation and management of other snow-living animals.

Dr Melanie Lancaster, Senior specialist, Arctic species, WWF Global Arctic Programme:

“We’re delighted with the results of this collaboration and pleased to add a new tool to the conservation toolbox for polar bears and other snow-living species. There is still much we do not know about polar bears across the Arctic, which is worrying, given current and predicted impacts of the climate crisis on their habitats and populations. We need all the help we can get to collectively ensure their conservation”.

ABOUT

About WWF: For 60 years, WWF has worked to help people and nature thrive. As the world’s leading conservation organization, WWF works in nearly 100 countries. At every level, we collaborate with people around the world to develop and deliver innovative solutions that protect communities, wildlife, and the places in which they live. To learn more about the WWF Global Arctic Program me, visit www.arcticwwf.org.

About MIX Research: MIX Research Sweden is a research and consulting company specialized in eDNA for biodiversity monitoring. For more information, visit https://www.mixresearch.se/en.

Media Contact:

Irene Serrano | Media and External Affairs WWF-US | [email protected]

Andrea Norgren | Sr. Manager Communications, WWF Global Arctic Programme | [email protected]

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris pledged at COP on behalf of the Biden administration a significant new contribution to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which is the largest international climate fund dedicated to supporting developing countries in their efforts to minimize their emissions and build resilience to the climate crisis. This new U.S. pledge comes as part of the GCF’s second replenishment for the 2024-2027 period and will help make progress towards the $100 billion collective global goal on climate finance directed to developing countries.

In response, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued the following statement from Carter Roberts, President and CEO:

“The Green Climate Fund helps the world’s most vulnerable communities prepare for present climate challenges and our shared climate future. That mission is more urgent than ever following the record extremes that marked 2023, and projections that show things will only get more dire if we do not rapidly change course.

“Today’s announcement from the Biden Administration makes clear that the United States remains committed to the GCF. And more importantly, it sends a signal to nations that are counting on GCF funding that the United States will strive to do its part to help developing country partners decarbonize and build resilience to climate impacts. The United States has made huge strides in the last few years. This latest pledge to the GCF continues that trend and we should seek out additional ways to unlock climate finance to support ambitious action. WWF urges Congress to approve the funds required to fulfill this pledge, and we thank the Biden Administration for its continued leadership.”

Source: World Wildlife Fund