New York, September 20 – The United Kingdom, which will host the next conference on climate change in November, appealed to rich countries to donate a total of $100 billion a year starting from 2020 to help poor countries adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Known as COP26, for the 26th Conference of the Parties in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12. It is considered a critical test to consolidate cooperation between rich and poor countries to implement the Paris climate change agreement signed in 2015. It will bring together the 197 members to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to implement the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius degrees. To reach that goal, Paris agreement signers will have to adapt to a new era of climate impacts and financially support developing nations to build low-carbon and resilient economies.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended a close-door meeting at UN headquarters in New York convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss climate issues with world leaders, some of whom through video conference.
The main issue is to mobilize $100 billion a year from 2020 to support developing countries cut carbon emissions, minimize the impact of climate change and adapt their economies to deal with its impact. Rich countries have pledged some $79 billion in 2019, but still short of the goal of $100 billion for 2020. The funds will go to the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), which is set up to assist developing countries. Another program known as the Accelerating Coal Transition aims at accelerating the closure of coal-fired power plants, creating clean energy generation and creating green jobs.
“In coming together to agree the $100-billion pledge, the world’s richest countries made an historic commitment to the world’s poorest – we now owe it to them to deliver on that,” Johnson said in a statement. The UK prime minister is in New York to address the UN General Assembly session.
“Richer nations have reaped the benefits of untrammelled pollution for generations, often at the expense of developing countries. As those countries now try to grow their economies in a clean, green and sustainable way we have a duty to support them in doing so – with our technology, with our expertise and with the money we have promised,” he said.
Guterres told a news conference that the closed-door meeting was to instill a “sense of urgency” because of the dire state of the global climate before the Glasgow conference.
“Based on the present commitments of member states, the world is on a catastrophic pathway to 2.7-degrees of heating,” he said.
“Science tells us that anything above 1.5 degrees would be a disaster. To limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, we need a 45 per cent cut in emissions by 2030 so we can reach carbon neutrality by mid-century. Instead, commitments by countries to date imply an increase of 16 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 compared to 2010 levels. This means that unless we collectively change course, there is a high risk of failure of COP26.”
Guterres especially called on the group of the world’s richest countries known as G20 to donate to the CIF.
“They represent 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “The bottom line is that we need decisive action now around net zero commitments from all countries and the private sector. I want to mention one specific challenge – energy.”
He warned that if the earth’s temperature will rise above 2 C degrees, “the Paris targets would go up in smoke.”
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