The climate crisis is accelerating with devastating and worsening effects. This year’s drought in Europe, the floods in Pakistan, the hurricanes in the Caribbean and Florida, not least the famine in the Horn of Africa are examples of the tragic effects of climate change.
The globally recognized current findings in climate science underscore the urgency of action. We must use the COP 27 World Climate Conference in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, over the next two weeks to reinforce our commitments to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and to implement last year’s Glasgow Climate Pact. We can’t wait any longer.
To achieve this, we need unity in four areas. First, it is crucial that global temperature rise is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Glasgow Climate Pact recognized that this is necessary to contain the already huge impacts of global warming.
The IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, has made it clear that an increase of just two degrees would have serious consequences for billions of people and for the ecological integrity of the planet. Even with the current warming of 1.2 degrees, the consequences are serious.
However, we are currently heading for an average temperature increase of at least 2.5 degrees, measured against the climate targets of the states. In many regions, including Africa, this would be much higher.
As agreed in Glasgow, we all – but especially the G20 countries, which are responsible for 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – must step up our efforts to achieve a limit of 1.5 degrees.
In the EU, we are currently negotiating the world’s most comprehensive, all-sector legislative package in the so-called “Fit for 55” package to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and to be climate-neutral by 2050.
The UK will phase out coal by 2024 and generate 95 per cent of its electricity from low-carbon sources by 2030 by massively expanding renewable energy.
Although the Republic of the Marshall Islands accounts for only a tiny fraction of global emissions, it has already presented two more ambitious NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions). But like many other developing countries, the Marshall Islands need decarbonization support.
We not only need technical solutions, but also nature-based ones
The global energy crisis is an incentive to accelerate the deployment of carbon-free energy – primarily from renewable sources – around the world, and an opportunity to do so in an equitable manner. In addition to technical solutions, this also means that we use the potential of nature-based solutions, such as forests, and recognize the value of ecosystems in climate protection.
Second, we must strengthen global climate finance. In Copenhagen in 2009, the heads of state and government of the industrialized countries pledged to jointly mobilize 100 billion US dollars annually for climate finance in developing countries from 2020 onwards. The OECD figures for 2020 show that at $83.3 billion we have not met this target. Achieving this goal as quickly as possible is crucial for the necessary confidence at COP27.
We call on all developed countries to step up their efforts to mobilize the support needed for the green transition. At the same time, we must simplify and accelerate access to international climate finance.
It is important that we significantly step up our efforts globally – including France, Germany and the UK – and that we work with the international financial institutions to redirect investment globally towards low-carbon and climate-resilient sustainable development.
In order to enable ambitious transformation plans in the countries, we must mobilize the necessary investments. “Just Energy Transition Partnerships” are a promising model to support the transition to climate-neutral, resilient development on an equal footing. The first partnership was launched last year between South Africa and G7 countries, with more planned at COP27.
Coastal erosion, crop failures, heat waves
Third, we need to get better at adapting. Too many of the most vulnerable and vulnerable countries are already grappling with the increasingly devastating effects of climate change. These include catastrophic weather events, coastal erosion, crop failures, erratic fish stocks and unbearable temperatures.
The Glasgow Climate Pact calls on industrialized countries to jointly double their adaptation funding between 2019 and 2025. The vulnerable countries just don’t have time to wait any longer. We must do everything we can at COP27 worldwide to move forward with this goal.
Finally, dealing with losses and damage is also crucial. We need to find financing solutions in Sharm-El-Sheikh to fill the gaps that exist.
Part of the solution is to extend existing instruments such as early warning systems and insurance. We must make progress in Egypt on financing climate-related losses and damage inside and outside the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
We must set the course now in order to be able to keep the 1.5 degree target within reach, in order to mitigate the dramatic effects of climate change and to adapt, in order to make significant progress with the necessary climate financing in order to significantly accelerate climate protection. The generations to come expect a lot from Sharm-El-Sheikh and we cannot afford to disappoint them.
Jennifer Morgan is State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office and Special Representative for International Climate Protection. Agnès Pannier-Runacher is France’s Minister for the Energy Transition. Maisa Rojas Corradi is Chile’s Environment Minister. Alok Sharma was President of COP26 last year, which took place in Glasgow.
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Source: Tagesspiegel
I am an author and journalist with a focus on market news. I have worked for a global news website for the past two years, writing articles on a range of topics relating to the stock market. My work has been published in international publications and I have delivered talks at both academic institutions and business conferences around the world.
