UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030, March 2024, https://www.refworld.org/policy/strategy/unhcr/2024/en/147980 [accessed 11 September 2024]
UNHCR Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030
In this section
As a central component of the UNHCR Strategic Directions 2022-2026, UNHCR has identified eight focus areas for renewed attention and accelerated action, including Climate Action. This Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action sets out a global roadmap for prioritized action, providing further clarity on UNHCR’s role and direct contribution, its asks of others, and the immediate actions the organization will take to be optimally calibrated to advance this agenda.
Climate change is increasingly linked to conflict and human displacement. Growing numbers of people fleeing persecution, violence and human rights violations occurring in relation to the adverse effects of climate change and disasters will need international protection. In 2022, 70 per cent of refugees and asylum seekers fled from highly climate-vulnerable countries, an increase from 56 per cent in 2012. The scope for durable solutions is also narrowing. In 2020, only one per cent of refugees were able to return home1 – a challenge which is only likely to grow, as the impact of climate change further deteriorates basic living conditions and opportunities for development in countries of origin.
At the same time, a significant percentage of forcibly displaced and stateless people are living in the most climate-vulnerable situations in the world, where – together with their host communities – they lack access to environmentally sustainable resources and resilience to the impacts of climate change. Women, girls, and other groups with specific needs, often face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change due to existing roles, responsibilities and cultural norms. The plan highlights 22 countries of particular concern to UNHCR, given their heightened vulnerability to climate change, and the large numbers of forcibly displaced and stateless people residing within them. Projections show that the situation will likely significantly deteriorate in these countries by 2030.
Despite initial investments by the international community to support national governments’ adaptation and resilience efforts in these countries, the poorest areas which host displaced and stateless populations often “fall through the cracks” in national development and adaptation plans and programmes, further exacerbating inequalities and protection concerns for people at heightened risk, and leaving these communities markedly behind.
The plan also addresses UNHCR’s organizational footprint and contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions from operations, facilities, and supply chain practices. Today UNHCR is recognized as a leader within the UN community for its efforts in “greening” its operations. Nonetheless, in 2022, UNHCR’s direct emissions totalled 52 kilotonnes of CO2, with an additional 450 kilotonnes emitted annually from supply chain activities. A recent MOPAN4 assessment found that UNHCR has made considerable efforts to incorporate climate change and environmental factors as a cross-cutting issue since the launch of the 2021 UNHCR Strategic Framework for Climate Action. UNHCR is now committed to accelerating this progress to deliver more systematic and quantifiable results for populations relevant to its mandate, whose resilience and protection is impacted by the climate crisis. This focus area strategic plan explains how UNHCR will operationalize this commitment.
Vision and objectives
The strategic plan is based on one common vision, firmly rooted in the ambition of UNHCR Strategic Directions 2022-2026, and aligned to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): By 2030, increasing numbers of forcibly displaced and stateless people fleeing from climate-fueled crises and/or living in climate vulnerable
countries find solutions are protected and resilient to the impacts of climate change, and are living self-sufficient lives.
In order to realize this vision, UNHCR has set four inter-dependent objectives for protection, solutions, resilience and adaptation to be achieved in support of national governments, together with partners:
1 People fleeing persecution, violence and human rights violations occurring in relation to the adverse effects of climate change and disasters who need international protection are effectively protected.
2 Forcibly displaced and stateless people and their hosts have increased access to services that promote the rights-based, sustainable use of natural resources and a clean and healthy environment.
3 Forcibly displaced and stateless people and their hosts have improved physical and economic means to prepare, withstand, recover and be protected from the impacts of climate change.
4 UNHCR operates sustainably with systems in place to minimize negative impacts on the environment.
The comparative advantage UNHCR brings to each objective is clearly set out in the plan (page 15), as well as clarity on its differentiated mandated role in situations of internal displacement, as per Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) coordination arrangements. This includes, most notably, (a) UNHCR’s longstanding experience and mandated role to support governments in strengthening their capacity to provide protection and (b) UNHCR’s rich operational expertise programming to reduce vulnerabilities and protection risks for the most vulnerable and remote displaced
populations, together with their hosts.
The strategic plan signifies a global shift for UNHCR in aligning around the new global outputs (page 15), which can be measured and tracked. A result framework and monitoring plan will be published in the first quarter of 2024, to coincide with the plan’s official launch.
Five priority actions
The plan outlines five high-impact global actions for the organization, including :
1. Global thought leadership and advocacy
2. Strategic partnerships
3. Leveraging for inclusion
4. Implementing multi-year development projects in sectors where UNHCR has experience
5. Humanitarian action to improve resilience
The plan clearly explains that UNHCR will differentiate which action it prioritizes in any given context, depending on the status of the country on the humanitarian-development continuum. In addition to UNHCR’s core advocacy for the application of existing refugee and human rights instruments, three key “advocacy asks” for member States and development actors are central to the plans execution, and are set out on page 25.
Principles for protection-sensitive climate action programming
UNHCR will introduce cross-cutting programming principles in 2024, with the aim of ensuring that protection-sensitive, environmentally sustainable, and climate-smart measures are mainstreamed across all its work. These principles guide planning, programming, and monitoring efforts, emphasizing a sharpened responsible approach to environmental impact and climate change.
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UNHCR Focus Area Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030
