U.N. CLIMATE SUMMIT KICKS OFF
At-risk nations plead for ‘justice’, G20 nations notably absent at COP24
NATIONS facing imminent environmental disaster on Monday called on rich polluters to help them back from the brink, as the United Nations warned the world’s plan to avoid climate catastrophe was “way off course”.
From glaciers melting in Nepal to the rising seas threatening to engulf small island states, the world is already experiencing the damage lying in wait if global warming runs unchecked.
Nearly 200 nations gathered in Poland on Monday for the start of the COP24 summit, where they must agree on a universal rulebook to make good on the promises they made in the 2015 Paris climate deal.
“Nepal is a country comprising mountains and plains,” president Bidhya Devi Bhandari said.
“We have been bearing the brunt of disproportionate impact of climate change despite being a low carbon-emitting country.”
The Paris agreement vowed to limit global temperature rises to under 2°C and to the safer cap of 1.5°C if possible.
For this, richer nations must provide funding — US$100 billion (RM413 billion) per year by 2020 — to steer developing countries towards greener energy while drastically drawing down their own emissions.
But developing nations have complained that richer states — responsible for the vast majority of historic fossil fuel use — aren’t doing enough to help them adapt to our warming planet.
“We feel as if we have been penalised for the mistakes we never made,” said Bhandari.
“It is incumbent on the international community to ensure that justice is done.”
Trust in the Paris process has been hit by United States President Donald Trump’s decision to renege on his country’s commitment, and there are fears the political will to act is waning as negotiations drag on.
Not a single G20 nation sent a top-level representative to the COP on Monday.
With just 1°C of warming so far, Earth is already being subjected to raging forest fires, flooding and superstorms made worse by rising seas.
A string of UN reports have sounded the alarm: levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere are the highest in three million years and the last four years were the hottest in history.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned nations that their plan to chart a route away from runaway global warming was “way off course”.
“Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption,” Guterres said.