24 April 2021
Suva, Fiji
Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General, Dame Meg Taylor has welcomed the new climate targets announced by the USA, Japan, UK and Canada as well as South Korea’s commitment to end financing of coal-fired power plants overseas at President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate.
Secretary General Taylor said whilst this is an indication of progress in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, it is disheartening that the urgency to act decisively to curb the global climate change emergency has not been taken favourably by other major emitters.
“It is also regrettable that no new climate finance commitments were made, despite developing countries being fully aware that the promised US $100 billion per year by 2020 has not been delivered”.
Dame Taylor added that the Initial NDC Synthesis Report released recently confirmed that the world is far from a pathway consistent with 1.5 degrees of global warming by the end of this century. The Leaders Summit on Climate should have been a turning point noting the major economic powers that participated are responsible for 80% of the global emissions.
“The message on the ‘urgency to act’ is one that must now be taken up by all global leaders. For the Blue Pacific, and as set out in Forum Leaders’ Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now, this is a matter of survival and cannot be downplayed”.
The window to act to safeguard the future of our Blue planet and avoid a more catastrophic event than this current pandemic is closing fast. The COP26 meeting in Glasgow this November must deliver enhanced NDC targets and commitment to climate neutrality by 2050 to assure a resilient future for our Pacific people and all people, said Secretary General Taylor.
Dame Taylor also thanked Pacific countries that represented the voice of the Blue Pacific continent at the Summit.
-ENDS-
