NAIROBI, Kenya (HPD) — The chairwoman of an influential negotiating bloc at the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Egypt has called for financial compensation for poorer countries suffering from the effects of climate change to be high on the agenda. .
Madeleine Diouf Sarr, who chairs the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, told The Associated Press that the November conference, known as COP27, should “capture the voice and needs of the most vulnerable nations.” and deliver climate justice.”
The group would like to see the summit produce “an agreement to establish a dedicated financial tool” that pays countries already facing the effects of climate change, he said.
The LDC, which is made up of 46 nations that account for a small part of global emissions, negotiates as a bloc at the UN summit to defend the interests of developing countries. Issues such as who pays for the transition of the poorest nations to cleaner energy, ensuring that no community is left behind in that transition, and fostering the adaptation of people vulnerable to climate change have long been on the group’s agenda. .
Developing nations continue to face serious difficulties in accessing finance for clean energy: Africa attracted just 2% of total investment in this sector in the last 20 years, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. The UN weather agency recently estimated that the global supply of clean energy must double by 2030 if the world is to limit global warming within established targets.
Sarr said the bloc will push for funds to help developing countries adapt to droughts, floods and other climate-related events, as well as urging developed nations to speed up their plans to cut emissions. The group is especially vulnerable to climate change due to its lack of capacity to adapt to extreme events, the United Nations meteorological agency said.
“We have delayed climate action for too long,” Sarr said, pointing to $100 billion a year in climate aid to poorer nations promised more than a decade ago.
“We can no longer afford to have a COP that is ‘all talk.’ The climate crisis has pushed our limits of adaptation, caused unavoidable loss and damage, and delayed our necessary development,” said Sarr.
The president of COP27 also said that this year’s summit should try to put into action the implementation plans and the promises agreed in previous editions.
Sarr defended the UN conference as “one of the few spaces where our nations come together to make countries assume their historical responsibility” and highlighted the success of the one held in Paris in 2015, which established the goal of limiting global warming. global to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).
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