Immediately following the COVID-19 outbreak in China, UNDP helped to procure emergency supplies and medical equipment.
As the virus began to spread globally we transitioned to assisting other countries in procuring supplies from China.
UNDP provided insights on where targeted COVID-19 response initiatives were needed and the kind of interventions required through our socio-economic impact assessment in 5 poverty counties in partnership with RCO, UNICEF and UNFPA.
36 million people gained increased awareness on effective use of PPE and COVID-19 precautions through the CO’s “Spread the Word, not the Virus” campaign on Chinese social media which mobilized hundreds of thousands of netizens to share crucial information in over 50 languages and dialects.
UNDP also provided policy recommendations on how to increase businesses’ resilience to future shocks while enhancing their ability to contribute to SDG achievement through analysis of how SMEs, which provide 80 percent of employment in China, are recovering from the pandemic.
UNDP has been working to improve livelihoods across several provinces and sectors. These efforts supported China’s aim of eliminating extreme rural poverty by the end of 2020.
Millions of beneficiaries, including more than 200,000 students and teachers, have better access to clean drinking water and cleaner environments through initiatives on river basin management, sustainable sewage treatment and clean water projects.
More than 10,000 farmers benefited from trainings and integration of technological innovations, leading to a positive impact on their household incomes.
Internationally, to assist in building back better from Cyclone Idai in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe by repairing schools and houses, UNDP China helped to facilitate technical and financial resources, with China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), through the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund (SSCAF).
In our efforts to combat climate change, UNDP has been working across a range of sectors to reduce carbon emissions and other GHG’s.
We have supported policy innovation on hydrogen-based clean energy solutions and established Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) demonstrations in 8 cities including hydrogen vocational training for the future of renewable jobs.
UNDP has also been supporting energy efficiency, including efficient lighting in public buildings and promotion of green logistics. A new sector in 2020 was the industrial electric motor sector, where we helped reduce CO2 by 23.12m tonnes by supporting more than 600 motor manufacturers to phase out more than 80 million low-efficiency motors.
We also reduced 21.6m tonnes of CO2 in industrial-commercial refrigeration.
Protecting biodiversity and reducing or eliminating harmful chemicals and pollutants are critical aspects of UNDP’s work in China.
UNDP supported the sustainable management of national parks in 8 provinces. One highlight of this year was restoring 1,730mu within the Przewalski Gazelle habitat, equal to 214 football fields.
Under the GEF wetlands program, UNDP supported the protection of an additional 2.94 million ha of wetlands this year, roughly the size of El Salvador.
More than 10,000 people in 3 provinces were protected from exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) through our work on secondary copper, zinc, lead and aluminum.
This year we also assisted in the continued phase-out of Endosulfan, a potentially harmful pesticide used in agriculture, by piloting alternative technologies covering 55,000 m2.
2020 was a banner year for SDG Financing, where we are working to bridge the SDG financing gap, estimated at 750 billion a year in Asia-Pacific alone.
UNDP developed and launched our SDG Financing Taxonomy and impact standards for SDG investors, which were adopted by New Development Bank for an SDG-aligned bond issuance.
We also shed light on where the private sector can invest with the governments to ensure positive social and environmental impact, while making financial gain through publishing of an SDG Investor Map
We have also continued our work with the philanthropic sector, providing lessons and recommendations for policy advocacy, enhanced collaboration and boosting SDG financing. We examined which approaches were effective, as well as challenges, and what can be done to overcome them through the Philanthropy for Sustainable Development Report and an online portal.
From A.I. and big data to gamification and digital literacy training, 2020 has been an innovative year for UNDP.
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