COP27 Must Rebuild Trust, Re-establish Ambition To Tackle Climate Change – UN Chief

Posted by Eric Ojo African News, Latest Headlines Friday, November 4th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres has said that the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27), beginning in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this weekend, should be leveraged to rebuild trust and re-establish the ambition needed to avoid driving our planet over the climate cliff.
Guterres made the observation on Thursday while briefing reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.

He also harped on the need for countries to rebuild trust between the North and South at the conference, adding that emissions are on course to rise by as much as 2.8C by the end of this century – far from the necessary and agreed 1.5 degrees, or lower.

“And that means our planet is on course for reaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible, and forever bake in, catastrophic temperature rise”, he said.

He also called for a “historic pact” between the developing and developed world where the onus is on the richer economies to deliver on their promises to reach the 1.5 degree goal, laid out in the Paris Agreement.

“COP27 must be the place to close the ambition gap, the credibility gap, and the solidarity gap”, he added.

The UN chief said those in denial of ‘loss and damage’ due to climate change in the developing world, need only look at the disastrous floods in Pakistan.

“Getting concrete results on loss and damage is the litmus test of the commitment of governments to help close all these gaps”, he further told journalists.

While speaking on Russia’s decision to rejoin the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Ethiopian agreement to end the war in Tigray, Guterres noted that it demonstrates the power of multilateralism in action.

He further disclosed that the deal to free-up vital foodstuffs from Ukraine had hit “a new milestone” with 10 million metric tonnes now shipped through the Black Sea humanitarian corridor, in just three months.

“Despite all the obstacles we have seen, the beacon of hope in the Black Sea is still shining and the initiative is working”, he stressed.

With Russia back in the fold and ships on the move again from three Ukrainian ports – with most of their cargo for human consumption, bound for developing world countries in need, the UN chief said he had two priorities going forward.

Firstly, ‘renewal and full implementation’ of the deal, followed by the removal of the remaining obstacles to the export of food and much-needed fertilizer, from Russia.

He said he and the UN were fully committed to both objectives, stressing the need to urgently address the “global fertilizer market crunch”.

“We cannot allow global fertilizer accessibility problems, to morph into a global food shortage. Both the grain deal and the signing of a binding agreement by Ethiopian authorities and Tigrayan rebels to end fighting and allow aid back in to war-ravaged Tigray, showed not only multilateralism at work, but the value of discrete – but determined – diplomacy”, he further explained