UN body calls for redoubling of climate change fight

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary, Christina Figueres said efforts need to be doubled in a bid to fight climate change.

Her comments were made at the Barbara Ward Lecture in London recently. Figueres stated that though arriving at the concept of sustainable development was a breakthrough in the 1970s and 1980s, getting the world “onto a truly sustainable pathway has now become an urgent imperative”.

She said there are too many persons living in poverty that can ill-afford to access clean water, reliable and safe energy.

The executive secretary noted that climate change and its impacts will exacerbate the suffering of billions of the world’s population.

“Climate change has the potential to undo many of the development gains that have been made, including in the context of the Millennium Development Goals. Yet still greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.”

Figueres added that a decisive breakthrough is needed for sustainable development but “this time a breakthrough in action”.

“The time for concept development is past. The urgency of action is upon us. We must trigger the sustainability transformation now, and a critical component of that is the energy revolution that needs to both address emissions and power the world’s move into a sustainable future.” She said she is by no means calling for an armed revolution but the kind that occurred with respect to information technology over the past 20 years.

Figueres said the task is not so difficult as to accomplish the goals set. “Countries need not start from scratch as there is much momentum in both energy and sustainability revolutions and these momentums continue to increase.”

Key emerging policies that include both climate change and renewable energy policies have been developed by almost all of the countries, and on this note, she said considerable efforts are being made to deal with climate change adaptation. “In terms of investment trends, the transformation is slowly becoming visible and… I would like to underline… is powering ahead despite difficult economic and investment conditions.”

International climate policy is becoming clearer and is now an important contributing factor to sustainable development and clean energy revolution. She reflected on the Durban Climate Change Conference and the outcomes.

In May this year, governments will have to agree on the length of the commitment period, whether five or eight years to enable the process of inscribing quantified emission reductions in the second commitment period. However, the protocol only covers 10-15 per cent of global emissions and governments know efforts have to go way beyond that.

Figueres added that governments know that there must be more certainty than that which is offered by voluntary action, and it was decided in Durban that governments also need to embark on a future legal framework that will cover all nations of the world. This will be negotiated by 2015, and will hopefully go into effect by 2020. She described the strategy outlined as “ambitious”, and as such, must be effectively supported and responsibly guided.

The Adaptation Committee, the Green Climate Fund and the Technology Mechanism were all successively launched in Durban.

Countries, she said therefore need to have “an immediate work programme on increasing mitigation levels, now, up to and beyond 2015”.

The executive secretary charged all those present at the lecture to “take the unambiguous low carbon policy signals from Durban, and help us increase action through new partnerships”.