UNGA80 - High Ambition Coalition Ministerial Statement
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement and the creation of the High Ambition Coalition, the urgency of international climate action has never been greater.
Climate change is being felt worldwide. People, particularly those already vulnerable, are experiencing devastating loss and damage.
The multilateral climate regime was born out of hope that the world can come together to address this planetary crisis. We can save millions of lives.
The International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion affirmed that a stable climate is necessary to protect and preserve human rights, and has made clear that States must act together to keep the 1.5°C warming limit in reach. To save lives and livelihoods we must significantly scale up mitigation and adaptation measures, and finance to support them.
We must be guided by the best available science. Warnings from the scientific community cannot be ignored or silenced. Scientists have told us that we are reaching limits on our ability to adapt to climate change. As we approach the 1.5°C threshold we face tipping points that threaten to throw our planet into even greater and irreversible catastrophe. Emissions must peak now and rapidly decline to net zero by 2050 if we are to have a fighting chance to avoid the worst.
Progress has been made. Without the Paris Agreement, we would be headed for 4 degrees of warming. Climate finance is flowing, although it must grow quickly and flow faster. The commitment to transition away from fossil fuels and toward cheaper, cleaner renewables, is now enshrined in the UN climate regime. This transformation is underway in many countries, bringing a wealth of health, ecological, security, and economic benefits to national governments and remote communities alike. International cooperation and global tracking are now needed to ensure the transition happens fast enough and in a just, orderly and equitable way everywhere across the globe.
But much more must be done to meet our promises. We call on all countries to submit 1.5°C aligned NDCs, that cover all sectors and gasses and set out how each country will contribute to each of our shared energy commitments, in line with their obligations under international law, and how they will take advantage of the opportunities posed by the transition for economies, jobs, energy security, and health.
A collective failure to submit a set of NDCs that course-correct for 1.5°C must lead to an agreement at COP30 for a global plan for swiftly making up the shortfall and an annual space to review and amend our progress.
The World Leaders Summit gives us a moment of opportunity to demonstrate the political will to stay under 1.5°C of global warming and to kick start a cooperative effort to supercharge the transition away from fossil fuels this decade.
We must adapt rapidly to reduce the devastation we have already set in train and build resilience at an historic scale. We must create an ambitious adaptation package in Belem, that addresses the adaptation finance gap through drastically and urgently scaled up quality funding streams, the means for developing countries to quickly formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans, and arrangements for tracking our progress.
Loss and damage is already occurring and will continue to increase, even if we immediately halt all emissions. Funding is urgently required, as well as better data on the state of loss and damage worldwide, so we can ensure needs are being met.
We look forward to the implementation of the New Collective Quantified Goal with a view to scaling up quality finance to developing countries with public finance at its core. We are committed to doing our part to deliver it.
We await the finalization of the Baku-to-Belem roadmap and expect that it will set out how the 1.3 trillion dollars a year can be delivered. Capitalizing the Adaptation Fund, Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, and the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage is key to directing grant-based finance to where it’s needed most.
We must also reform the international financial architecture, reduce debt burdens, and drastically improve access to finance, particularly for SIDs and LDCs. And we must align public and private spending with our climate goals, including by phasing out the trillions in inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and ending international public finance for fossil fuels – as promised.
We commit to play our part, and stand ready to support the COP Presidency, alongside every government, every institution, and every person, to work together in the spirit of mutirão to deliver these aims.
H.E. Shantal Munro-Knight, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, BarbadosH.E. Shantal Munro-Knight, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Barbados
H.E. Maisa Rojas Corradi, Minister of Environment, Chile
H.E. Lars Aagaard, Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities, Denmark
H.E. Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, European Commission
H.E. Mosese Bulitavu, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Fiji
H.E. Sari Multala, Minister of Climate and the Environment, Finland
H.E. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for the Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, Marine Affairs and Fisheries, France
H.E. Carsten Schneider, Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany
H.E. Kerryne Zennelle James, Minister for Climate Resilience, the Environment, and Renewable Energy, Grenada
H.E. Edwin José Castellanos Lopez, Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Guatemala
H.E. Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate, Iceland
H.E. Matthew Samuda, Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Jamaica
H.E. Ali Mohamed, Special Climate Change Envoy, Kenya
H.E. Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Minister of Climate and Environment, Norway
H.E. Ana Isabel Xavier, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Portugal
H.E. Steven Victor, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and the Environment, Republic of Palau
H.E. Bojan Kumer, Minister of the Environment, Climate, and Energy, Republic of Slovenia
H.E. Kalani Kaneko, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of the Marshall Islands
H.E. Sara Aagesen, Third Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Spain
H.E. Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
H.E. Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Meteorology & Geo-Hazards, Energy, Environment and National Disaster Management, Vanuatu