A fortnight of international climate change talks starting in Peru must deliver concrete steps towards a global deal on curbing rising global temperatures next year, including putting a draft agreement on the table, the head of the United Nation’s Climate Change Secretariat said yesterday.
Officially opening the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) in Lima yesterday, Christiana Figueres said it was “critical” that by the close of the summit on 18 December, countries have a draft universal climate change agreement in place and have clarified how national countries will pledge their emissions cuts next year.
Figueres, who is the head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), said the talks must also “consolidate” progress on helping countries to adapt to the worst impacts of climate change, in order to ensure the topic gets as much political attention as mitigation measures to reduce carbon emissions in the run up to next year’s crucial Paris Summit.
Third on her list of priorties was progress on boosting the delivery of climate finance for the most vulnerable nations. During the past weeks, rich countries have pledged a total of $9.7bn to the UN’s Green Climate Fund, after Spain announced it would put 120m into the pot on Saturday.
Figueres said she was hopeful more countries would follow Spain’s lead during the coming fortnight.
Finally, Figueres said the talks should work on increasing the ambition of all countries, businesses, and organisations to invest in and scale up the technologies that can limit climate risks.
She told the conference that the Lima COP must write history, producing “indelible” lines of action on climate change.
“With success in these areas, COP 20/CMP 10 is poised to deliver pre-2020 action, set the stage for a strong Paris agreement and increase ambition over time, ultimately fulfilling a long-term vision of climate neutrality in the pursuit of development that is truly sustainable for all,” she said.
Her comments came as the Summit kicked off with familiar warnings from China and Brazil that industrialised nations are still not doing enough to increase climate-related funding to help poorer nations adapt and decarbonise.
However, growing numbers of participants have insisted the talks are being conducted against a backdrop of genuine optimism about the prospects of a global deal, which has fuelled in recent months by public commitments from big businesses and investors in support of decarbonisation and the high profile US-China Climate Pact that was announced last month.
These hopes were given a further boost when local media in India reported that the country’s government was considering a target date for peaking emissions in response to China’s commitment to ensure emissions peak around 2030.
The Business Standard reported that the government may announce a new “aspirational” emissions target in time for the state visit of US President Barack Obama next January.
Any commitment by the Modi government to ensure emissions peak would be seen as a major step forward for the long-running UN climate change talks and would further fuel hopes that a binding agreement could be finalised next year in Paris.
Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited