There is a shrinking window of opportunity to address the climate crisis. Average global temperature is currently estimated to be 1.1°C above pre-industrial times. Based on existing trends, the world could cross the 1.5°C threshold within the next two decades and 2°C threshold early during the second half of the century. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C is still narrowly possible and will be determined by the investment decisions we make over the next decade. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) – a critical element of the historic Paris Agreement - is the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries raise and realize their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) ambitions towards low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways. Green Climate Fund
As the 2020 UN Emissions Gap Report 2020 detailed that the richest 1% of the world population is responsible for 15% of emissions, marginalized groups and least developed countries, who contributed the least to the climate crisis, face a perilous future without a massive injection of funding.
Climate change is running faster than we are. We need much more ambition and urgency. Finance is key. Developed nations need to meet their pledge to mobilise USD 100 billion dollars a year for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. The Green Climate Fund has a significant role to play. Green Climate Fund
“The wealthy bear the greatest responsibility in this area,” the report found, referring to changes in consumer behavior prioritizing low-carbon consumption. “This elite will need to reduce their footprint by a factor of 30 to stay in line with the Paris Agreement targets.”
In a study by Amy Sinden for the Washington Law Review, the author writes: “The developed world is speaking the language of efficiency, while the developing world speaks the language of justice. Economic theory and the concept of efficiency are fine for answering the question of who should reduce, but that is not the contentious issue. When it comes to the hotly contested issue of who should pay, economic theory offers no guidance, and the developing world is right to insist that we look to principles of justice.”
At the recent US-hosted Leaders Summit on Climate , the United States announced plans to double the amount it would invest in developing countries to $5.7 billion annually. (At a 2019 meeting during the UN Climate Meeting, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden pledged $160 million to the Least Developed Contries Fund. Canada pledged $7.5 million at the 2019 G7.) This represents a drop in the bucket of what is needed to incentivize developing countries to invest in clean energy, take advantage of emergent technologies, and assist them in dealing with loss and damage from climate change.
John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, alluded to the responsibility to assist the globe’s most vulnerable populations and called for collaboration among nations, business, and financial institutions.
And as you have said, Mr. President, creating a net zero economy and doing it as rapidly as possible is an enormous challenge. It will require mobilizing finance at an absolutely unprecedented level. And it will require governments to help facilitate the net zero transition around the world and to help especially – and we’ve heard it again and again from the leaders this morning – the vulnerable countries, the people who just don’t have the finance or the technology or the ability to do this.
Given the magnitude of this challenge, however, governments alone cannot possibly find all the necessary investment. There’s no government in the world that has enough in their fiscal – in their budgets to be able to provide what we need to make this transition. Ultimately, how governments, international financial institutions, and private providers of capital work together is really going to determine the outcome of this challenge. www.state.gov/...
Sonam P. Wangdi is Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Group, represening over a billion people from the most poor and climate challenged countries.
“The LDCs are counting on support from the whole international community to help implement our ambitious climate plans that will safeguard the lives and livelihoods of our people and their children, allowing us all to thrive with nature,” he said after the summit. “It has become devastatingly clear that the world urgently needs cooperative global action at a much greater scale to realise the goals of the Paris Agreement. We must see that countries act with the highest possible ambition to make urgent and deep emissions cuts and strengthen their 2030 targets consistent with 1.5°C pathways. Developing countries and particularly LDCs must be provided with support measures to address the climate crisis. Our people are already suffering. The billion people we represent need more than talk. We need urgent climate action.”
When he is not aiming his sites on tinkering around in outer space, Jeff Bezos,the richest man in the world ($214.5 billion) is confronting the climate crisis with the The Climate Pledge, signed by 108 corporations who consent to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. Additionally, Amazon has establised a $2 billion Climate Fund which invests in emergent technologies working towards net zero. None of his undertakings, however, do much to address the divide between developed and developing countries.
Historically, the US is the largest emitter of GHGs; currently, China emits more than any other country. At the spring summit, the US committed to “roughly halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 — an ambitious goal that is slightly below the EU and Britain targets. China plans to hit peak emissions by 2030, approaching net zero by 2060. (NYT)
As the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) prepares for its first live meeting since the pandemic — Glasgow’s COP26, — participating nations are more cognisant than ever of the need to strengthen their nationally declared contributions (NDCs) and strive toward Net Zero by 2050 to ensure global warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees