UN Climate Change News, 20 May 2021 – The G7 Climate and Environment Ministers are meeting virtually today and tomorrow to boost ambitious action on climate change ahead of the upcoming G7 Leaders’ Summit in Cornwall, United Kingdom, on 11-13 June.
The G7 Summit will aim to unite leading democracies to help the world build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic and create a greener, more prosperous future. It will also build political momentum ahead of the crucial UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow in November.
The policy priorities during the meeting include a net-zero G7 by 2050 at the latest, action on oceans, and supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Underlining the importance of these preparatory meetings for raising climate ambition – particularly with regard to financial support - UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa, said in her keynote address today:
“The decisions G7 nations make in the next few weeks will have a major impact on whether nations achieve success at COP26, make a truly green recovery from COVID-19, and eventually reach their long-term climate goals under the Paris Agreement.”
The UN Climate Chief stated that while we are beginning to see faint glimmers of hope that the end of the COVID crisis may be insight, the climate change crisis is worsening, with no end in sight. She pointed out, however, that by addressing one crisis, we can address another:
“The rollout of trillions of dollars to address post-COVID recovery is 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.”
Ms. Espinosa stressed the need to work together as an international community to transition to a cleaner future:
“Like COVID-19, trying to address the global climate change emergency through economic nationalism or isolationism is like covering one corner of a wildfire with a wet blanket. We are not safe unless the entire fire is extinguished.”
Critical to addressing the climate emergency is comprehensive financial support, particularly for developing countries. Ms. Espinosa urged the G7, as the most industrialized nations in the world, to provide the necessary funding to underpin strong climate action and unlock the true potential of the Paris Agreement. She called for this finance to be in place by COP26.
See full speech below:
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.