ONU Climat infos, 21 mai 2021 - Les ministres du climat et de l'environnement du G7 se réunissent virtuellement ces deux jours pour stimuler une action ambitieuse sur le changement climatique avant le prochain sommet des dirigeants du G7 qui se tiendra en Cornouailles, au Royaume-Uni, du 11 au 13 juin.
Le sommet du G7 aura pour objectif d'unir les principales démocraties pour aider le monde à mieux se relever de la pandémie de la COVID-19 et à créer un avenir plus vert et plus prospère. Il permettra également de créer un élan politique avant la conférence cruciale des Nations unies sur les changements climatiques de la COP 26 qui se tiendra à Glasgow en novembre.
Les priorités politiques de la réunion comprennent un G7 nul en émissions d'ici à 2050 au plus tard, des mesures concernant les océans et le soutien à la transition vers une économie à faible émission de carbone.
Soulignant l'importance de ces réunions préparatoires pour accroître les ambitions en matière de climat, notamment en ce qui concerne le soutien financier, la secrétaire exécutive d'ONU Climat, Patricia Espinosa, a déclaré dans son discours d'ouverture aujourd'hui : Les décisions que les nations du G7 prendront au cours des prochaines semaines auront un impact majeur sur la réussite des nations à la COP26, sur la reprise véritablement verte de la COVID-19, et finalement sur la réalisation de leurs objectifs climatiques à long terme dans le cadre de l'Accord de Paris.
La responsable d'ONU climat a déclaré que si nous commençons à entrevoir de faibles lueurs d'espoir quant à la fin de la crise de la COVID, la crise du changement climatique s'aggrave, sans qu'aucune fin ne soit en vue. Elle a toutefois souligné qu'en s'attaquant à une crise, nous pouvons en aborder une autre :
Le déploiement de billions de dollars pour faire face à la reprise post-COVID est l'occasion d'accélérer la transition des économies basées sur les combustibles fossiles et les fortes émissions vers des économies à faible émission de carbone, durables et résilientes. Cette transition ne sera pas facile, mais la réaliser est le grand défi humain de notre époque.
Mme Espinosa a souligné la nécessité de travailler ensemble en tant que communauté internationale pour assurer la transition vers un avenir plus propre : Comme la COVID-19, essayer de répondre à l'urgence mondiale du changement climatique par le nationalisme économique ou l'isolationnisme, c'est comme couvrir un coin d'un feu de forêt avec une couverture mouillée. Nous ne sommes pas en sécurité tant que le feu n'est pas entièrement éteint.
Pour faire face à l'urgence climatique, il est essentiel d'apporter un soutien financier global, en particulier aux pays en développement. Mme Espinosa a exhorté le G7, en tant que nations les plus industrialisées du monde, à fournir le financement nécessaire pour soutenir une action climatique forte et libérer le véritable potentiel de l'accord de Paris. Elle a demandé que ce financement soit en place d'ici la COP26.
Voir le discours complet dans sa langue originale :
Excellencies:
It’s a pleasure to address this ministerial event which comes at a pivotal point in a crucial year. I thank the incoming UK COP Presidency for hosting it and for continuing to advance the climate agenda.
I congratulate G7 nations with respect to recent commitments they’ve made to reduce emissions by specific dates and boosting their climate ambition. I also congratulate the G7 for embracing a green agenda in the leadup to COP26.
It has infused the climate change agenda with new momentum…but we are still very much in early stages.
Nations are still far from the goals of the Paris Agreement and stabilizing global temperature rise at 1.5C by the end of the century.
To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we urgently need more ambition with respect to mitigation, adaptation and — as I will focus on today — finance.
Excellencies:
If I am blunt in my remarks with you today it’s because the decisions G7 nations make in the next few weeks will have a major impact on whether nations achieve success at COP26, whether they make a truly green recovery from COVID-19, and if they eventually reach their long-term climate goals under the Paris Agreement.
We meet in the shadow of a global crisis that has decimated economies throughout the world and altered the trajectory of their programs and policies.
For years people theorized about what a global challenge would look like and the impacts it would have. In just over one year we found out. It has been a tragic lesson for millions.
While we may stand in the shadow of COVID-19, COVID-19 stands in the shadow of a far greater and more devastating emergency: climate change.
It threatens nothing less than the existence of life on this planet.
Like COVID-19, climate change knows no borders, respects no ideologies or political positions, and grows worse with domestic delay and a lack of international coordination.
We are beginning to see glimmers of hope in a few nations that the COVID crisis may be controlled. We hope to see an end soon. But the climate change crisis is getting worse with no end in sight.
You cannot measure climate change by numbers, statistics and economics alone…
… its true impact is measured in human misery, loss and death.
Immediate action is both a moral and economic necessity.
Excellencies:
I cannot impress upon you enough your vital role to turn the arc of history away from a story of loss and destruction to one of recovery, resilience and hope.
By addressing one crisis, we can address another.
The rollout of trillions of dollars to address post-COVID recovery is an opportunity…
…an opportunity to accelerate the transition away from fossil-fuel and high-emissions-based economies towards economies that are low carbon, sustainable and resilient.
This transition will not be easy, but achieving it is the great human challenge of our times.
We achieve it only if nations are in it together: regardless of development stage, economic strength, population or geography.
Like COVID-19, trying to address the global climate change emergency through economic nationalism is like covering one corner of a wildfire with a wet blanket. Safety is both temporary and an illusion.
We are not safe unless the entire fire is extinguished.
Just over five years ago in Paris, the international community reaffirmed its political will to ensure that all nations have access to adequate financial resources to support their efforts against climate change.
Acknowledging this responsibility, developed countries made a pledge to mobilize $100 billion annually for developing countries to support their action on mitigation and adaptation, a goal that was to be achieved by 2020.
This promise — which has not yet been fulfilled — extends back to when I was involved in the Cancun Agreements in 2010. In fact, it was one of the main elements ensuring the Paris Agreement would later be adopted. And yet here we are, years later, still talking about it.
Ministers, the bottom line is this: if we are to achieve success at COP26, we need this commitment met. We cannot break that promise made over a decade ago.
It’s a matter of trust. It is a matter of integrity.
And it is a matter of great importance because the $100 billion is but a milestone.
If we are to truly make a transition towards a cleaner, greener more sustainable future; if we are to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and ultimately protect human life on this planet, we need even more
wider-ranging and comprehensive financial support for developing nations to address climate change.
I know how difficult it is, especially in our current situation and at this point in time to take decisions that involve a great amount of resources.
But this needs to happen to happen soon. And it needs to happen before Glasgow. It will create the signal that the leaders of the world are determined to drive forward the transformation we so urgently need.
We know developing nations need this commitment but G7 nations need it as well.
The reality is that this is an act of collective self interest. Again, we cannot put out a wildfire threatening to engulf the whole world with a few wet blankets. We must fully extinguish it.
There are just over 150 developing nations in the world, representing just over 6.5 billion people. This includes the whole of Central and South America, the whole of Africa, almost all Asian nations and numerous island states.
To think we can address climate change without them is impossible. To think we can make the transition to a cleaner and greener future without them is impossible. To ultimately ensure the safety of humanity on this planet without them is impossible.
For many nations, securing the financing necessary to spur their own transition to a more sustainable future can’t happen without this support.
Instead of, for example, investing in renewable energy sources, their path of least resistance leads directly to energy sources based on fossil fuels. Some small island nations are in exactly this position now — their energy output based on diesel. Meanwhile the waters rise around them.
That’s why wider-ranging and comprehensive financial support for developing nations to address climate change is so important.
II.
Now let me share a few thoughts regarding the energy transition.
It’s clear that renewable energy will play a key role in any transition to a cleaner and net-zero emissions future.
According to the IPCC, about two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions consist of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes.1
If energy is at the heart of the climate change emergency, it must be at the heart of its solution.
There is some good news on this front.
The International Energy Agency reported last week that renewables were the only energy source for which demand increased in 2020 despite the pandemic, while consumption of all other fuels declined.2
Also, power capacity expansion will be driven by renewables to an even greater extent in the coming years.
This is excellent news. It shows there is an appetite, a willingness and financial incentive to make transitions that we were once told were simply impossible.
1IPCC, AR5 Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change
2IEA
Yes, there is so much farther to go, but it shows we can do it. And while addressing climate change takes both public and private sector action, it is you, the ministers, who have and continue to make the necessary decisions to drive this transition.
We need this leadership at an even wider sense as well. Again, it’s about support.
As UN Secretary-General Guterres has pointed out, if we are to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement — an agreement that benefits all nations — we must phase out coal by 2030 in developed countries and 2040 everywhere else.
We are under no illusions — it won’t be easy. The prosperity we currently experience has largely been built on the back of fossil fuels. Nobody can question that. However, it’s not sustainable.
Every piece of scientific evidence is absolutely clear about this.
Many global energy companies recognize this as well.
We also know fossil fuels are so deep-rooted in our societies that any transition will not only be economically challenging, but socially and politically as well.
Many G7 nations have only just started to make plans to phase out of coal. Those decisions were not easy, and they took years. These are nations with strong institutions and resources.
Now consider the situation in developing countries. Let us not forget that in some places, they’re still using animal waste to fuel their cook stoves.
To make the leap suddenly to renewables — it’s not like turning on a switch. They need support and access to alternatives — support that G7 nations can provide.
Domestically, you are the ones who can establish ambitious goals on emissions reduction and turning those goals into policies and regulatory frameworks in each country. And all of this needs to be reflected in national climate action plans – NDCs — this year.
Excellencies:
Your decisions now can make the difference with respect to whether we address climate change in time, or if we fail.
Your submission of strong NDCs with a strong clean energy component can drive progress.
Meeting past financial commitments while providing even wider-ranging and more comprehensive financial support for developing nations will do even more.
And your work to overcome differences and make progress at COP26 can show the world you are serious today about meeting your long-term climate goals of tomorrow — all while building the trust and integrity in multilateral efforts to address climate change.
We must achieve success. So much is at stake. Expectations from billions around the world for more ambitious climate action has never been higher.
I urge you to rise to the challenge of our times.
By doing so, the world will take a decisive step towards a cleaner, greener, and sustainable future, for the benefit of our generation and all of those to come.
Thank you.