Imagining the Carbon-Neutral Future: Transformations in Energy and Transport

Session 2 of the UN DESA Global Policy Dialogues for Climate Action

Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 8:30-10 a.m. EDT

Energy and transport can be agents of sustainable urban and rural development that prioritize equity and inclusion while also moving us closer to our zero-carbon goals. This session, the second in a four-part series on “Building a Global Coalition for Sustainability after COVID-19,” will bring together leading voices in the fields of clean energy and sustainable transport with experts from the UN system to discuss practical solutions and ways to reform these systems minimizing their effect on the environment, in the context of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organized with UN-Habitat, the event will also discuss cross-cutting issues such as financing, governance, gender, data and statistics, as well as how the world can best make systemic transformations to a more sustainable world while leaving no one behind.

Register here by 27 April 2021: bit.ly/climate28april

More information: bit.ly/DESAdialogues

The event is free and open to all, and will be streamed live on UN DESA’s Facebook page. The event will be held in English with captions available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org.

Chinese Language Day

Language Days at the United Nations seek to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization. Under the initiative, UN duty stations around the world celebrate six separate days, each dedicated to one of the Organization’s six official languages.

Why April 20?

The date for the Chinese day was selected from Guyu (“Rain of Millet”), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars, to pay tribute to Cangjie. Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China, claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. From then on, Chinese people celebrate the day Guyu in honour of Cangjie. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around April 20.

For more information about this UN observance, the five other official languages, and relevant events, please visit un.org/zh/observances/chinese-language-day/english.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN.

International Day of Happiness

The General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 66/281 of 12 July 2012 proclaimed 20 March the International Day of Happiness, recognizing the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives. It also recognized the need for a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and the well-being of all peoples.

The resolution was initiated by Bhutan, a country which recognized the value of national happiness over national income since the early 1970s and famously adopted the goal of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product. It also hosted a High Level Meeting on “Happiness and Well-Being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm” during the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.

To learn more and stay apprised of planned events, please visit un.org/en/observances/happiness-day.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Mental Health, please visit ngomentalhealth.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values, and Global Concerns-NY, please visit csvgc-ny.org.

equity