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CHENNAI: The G20 nations should take leadership roles in climate action as they represent “85% of the world’s GDP and 80% of the world’s emission,” UN’s COP28 President-Designate Dr Sultan Al Jaber urged on Friday in Chennai.
Al Jaber said that the decisions of G20 nations will have an enormous influence on the outcomes for countries all over the world. In his speech at the G20 Climate Sustainability Ministerial Meeting in Chennai, Dr Al Jaber, UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, expressed his concern that his call at last week’s meeting in Goa to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 has “yet to find expression in G20 outcomes,” despite its importance to the goal of keeping global warming within 1.5C.
“What you decide (G20 nations) will have a huge influence on outcomes for everyone, everywhere,” Dr Al Jaber told ministers.
“There is still time for the G20 to show leadership. I call upon all of you to work with your leaders to drive climate action at this critical moment.”
The President-Designate highlighted the importance of making progress on adaptation, with parties having signed the Paris Agreement.
“We all signed up for this. We are all responsible for its success. Yet today, science and our senses are telling us that the world is more vulnerable, less resilient and lacks the critical capacity to deal with mounting climate impacts.”
Pointing out that temperature records continue to be broken, with this month officially recorded as the hottest in history, he said that the world is losing biodiversity. He highlighted how agricultural lands are getting degraded and food insecurity is increasing. “If we are going to make progress on adaptation, we first have to define what success looks like in terms of stopping biodiversity loss, restoring agricultural land, preserving forests, protecting coastlines, ensuring no one goes hungry, safeguarding lives and livelihoods,” he said.
COP28 will be the first edition of the conference to explicitly link climate impacts to global health, with a day dedicated to health issues.
