The United Nations today launched a new online database that showcases successful strategies which businesses and communities may use to adapt to climate change. The database “Adaptation Private Sector Initiative” can be accessed through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) website. The new online tool features more than 100 examples from companies such as Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Microsoft and Starbucks, which share the details of their business-friendly adaptation practices.
“By showcasing private sector adaptation success stories, we intend to help both communities and businesses become more climate-resilient and to put the benefits and business sense of adaptation firmly on the agenda of the private sector.” -UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres
The database contains details of activities both on how companies can make profits or savings, or prevent losses through adaptation-related activities. There are currently around practical 100 examples of adaptation actions listed in the UNFCCC Private Sector Initiative database. Examples of best practices include efforts to make drinking water clean and safe in developing countries and efforts to improve the yield of coffee beans in regions that are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Figueres also underscored the importance of businesses and governments implementing measures to prepare for natural disasters such as massive floods, as these have a big impact on the operation of local and global businesses.
The database is part of a wider effort by UNFCCC following the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, to prioritize adaptation efforts as well as mitigation of natural disasters. Most of the world’s poor live in rural areas of developing countries and depend on agriculture to survive. In addition, millions of small-scale farmers and members of the rural poor live in areas that face serious risk from degradation and desertification due to climate change.
