Echoing these demands, Bangladesh’s representative reiterated his call for translating shared commitment into concrete actions and deliverables. “We must overcome the vicious cycle where developed countries make commitments and break those in the subsequent period,” he emphasized. He called for an ambitious road map to ensure a sustainable and resilient energy transition, including through climate finance and technology transfer.
Tunisia’s delegate, characterizing the upcoming Conference of the Parties as an “implementation conference where we move from promises to implementations”, stressed the need to deal with the needs of his continent by providing financing for adaptation and enhancing their abilities to use digital technologies. Though Africa remains vulnerable to the effects of climate change, especially in relation to water, soil and the rise in sea levels, she added, the continent only received 3 per cent of green finance available in 2021.
Further on climate finance, the representative of Fiji stressed that its size, even at $100 billion, is “woefully inadequate”. Also pointing out that as the Paris Agreement target to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C now stands to slip away, “it will have catastrophic impacts for small island developing States of the Pacific — not in some distant future, but now and today”.
Similarly, India’s representative stressed that financial responsibility, transparency and viability must be at the forefront when looking at financing options, including financing of infrastructure projects, to avoid imposing further unsustainable debt burdens on already vulnerable communities. He further proposed that to vacate the carbon space in 2050 for developing countries to grow, the developed States should commit to “net-minus” rather than “net-zero.”
In relation to other key priorities, Kenya’s delegate underscored that the grave impact of severe drought in the Horn of Africa region has forced his country to shift its priorities towards drought and famine relief, insulating education from disruptions and improving social protection and health-care systems. Looking ahead to the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties, he called on Member States and all relevant stakeholders to demonstrate strong political will and “move the talk to action now” to ensure the Paris commitments are actualized.
On a similar note, Côte d’Ivoire’s representative emphasized that maintaining the 1.5°C objective of the Paris Agreement would require the diversification of food and energy production systems and the promoted use of renewable energy sources, such as solar, hydro and wind power to close the energy access gap in developing countries. In this regard he shared that his country aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 per cent, and to increase its share of renewable energies to 42 per cent by 2030.
Responding to such demands from developing countries, the representative of the United Kingdom shared that his country has worked with Governments and the private sector to mobilize up to £8 billion annually, which will support economic growth, sustainable infrastructure and energy transition. Emphasizing that his country would “resist any attempt to roll back” from past agreements such as the Paris Agreement, he also expressed hope towards a new global biodiversity framework that aims to protect 30 per cent of land and oceans by 2030.
The representative of the Republic of Korea shared that her Government has worked with Indonesia on the Karian Water Facility to provide clean water to 2 million people, and partnered with Mongolia and Viet Nam to reduce greenhouse gas from waste landfills. She added that Seoul’s nationally determined contribution has the highest annual greenhouse gas reduction rate among major economies, at 4.17 per cent per year, with a national budget process requiring a mandatory climate sensitiveness assessment, and major infrastructure projects subject to a climate impact assessment.
Building on her point, the delegate of the United States emphasized that economic growth and environmental well-being cannot come at the expense of human rights, also reaffirming support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She further noted that her country is the largest provider of official development assistance (ODA), contributing $42 billion in 2021 to sustain development progress amid the pandemic.
The representative of Lesotho commended recent efforts made by the United States as one of the world’s major carbon emitters in passing landmark legislation on clean energy and climate investments to address the climate crisis. Meanwhile, noting that there has been little or no indication of improving climatic conditions around the world, he called on Group of 20 members to take it upon themselves to reduce emissions.
On the national level, Kyrgyzstan’s representative highlighted that climate change has created problems for her country’s unique mountain nature, notably through the damage it has inflicted on its mountain glaciers and biodiversity. In this regard she proposed to declare the next five years as years of action for the development on mountain regions, which would build broad international cooperation and encourage each country to bring its own ideas.
The representative of Bhutan, highlighting that the Himalayan glaciers are melting at an alarming rate due to climate change, emphasized that new and additional climate finance, including for loss and damage, must be urgently mobilized, and balance must be achieved between financing for mitigation and adaptation. Noting that the Sustainable Development Goals will fail if the environmental dimension and biodiversity related targets are not prioritized, he stressed that the international community must commit to the adoption of a bold, ambitious and transformational post-2020 framework on global biodiversity.
Also speaking were representatives of Thailand, Israel, Mexico, Sudan, Armenia, Uruguay, Indonesia, Syria, Portugal, Peru, Japan, Norway, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Zambia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, United Republic of Tanzania, Panama, Ukraine, Yemen, Senegal, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Oman, Botswana, Albania, Georgia, San Marino, Iceland, Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, Federated States of Micronesia, Uzbekistan, Angola, Bahrain, Paraguay, Monaco, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Azerbaijan and Nicaragua.
The representatives of Japan, Armenia and Azerbaijan also spoke in exercise of the right of reply.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 6 October, to take up macroeconomic policy questions as well as the outcomes of the International Conference on Financing for Development. The general debate will resume at 10 a.m. on Friday, 7 October.
