The United Nation’s Climate Chief, Patricia Espinosa has entreated rich countries to step up with fresh financial commitments to help the developing world tackle the climate crisis.
Speaking at a virtual lecture held by the London School of Economics, the UN Climate chief also said fulfilling pledges of financial assistance made a decade ago must be the top priority of the rich countries before vital climate talks – Cop26 – in November 2021.
“Promises made must be promises kept. The pledges must be honoured and updated. The obligations to support the efforts of developing countries cannot and will not be ignored. It is in the self-interest of the developed countries to fulfill these commitments.”
Rich countries are supposed to ensure that at least $100bn a year is available to the poor nations, through public funds and private sector sources, to help them cut emissions and cope with the impacts of climate change. The $100bn-a-year pledge was first made in 2009, at the Copenhagen climate conference, and restated at the adoption of the 2015 Paris accord.
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Ms Espinosa’s warning is part of an intensive push by the UN to ensure climate finance pledges are met, ahead of Cop26. Last December, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said the $100bn pledge was key to a successful Cop26 summit, which was postponed by a year to this November because of the Covid-19 crisis.
She also called on countries to “clear the decks” for a successful Cop26 by resolving some of the outstanding issues in the Paris agreement. Key amongst these issues is the question of how carbon markets should work, a contentious problem that created disagreements at the last climate conference in Madrid in 2019.
Cop26 will be hosted by the UK and is expected to be largely virtual. However, the formal negotiations that usually take place several months before the event have been delayed.
Ms Espinosa said the UK and other countries are working on ways to ensure that the international discussions could take place in order to clear up most of the issues ahead of time, leaving only the final formal decisions for Cop26.
She also called for countries to submit fresh national plans setting out curbs to their emissions by 2030. These plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), were supposed to be submitted by 31 December 2020 under the Paris agreement. However, only 75 countries met that deadline. Major economies including the US and China have yet to formalise their plans.
The UN Climate Chief also promised to “leave no voice behind” at Cop26, by ensuring all sections of global society and all countries were involved.
“Inclusive multilateralism is our way forward. Everyone has a role to play, everyone must be involved.”
Ms Espinosa also made a personal declaration. She spoke about her treatment for stage 3 breast cancer in 2019, which she said had given her hope and strength to carry on fighting the climate crisis, even though the scale of the challenge – especially when combined with the pandemic and the biodiversity crisis – could seem overwhelming.
“Many people are now going through something similar. Impossible is simply not a word that resonates with them, or me. We must have that in mind when we look at impossible odds. Impossible is not the answer the world wants right now.”
