FIJI has called on nations globally to seriously look at scaling up their national determined contributions to accelerate climate ambitions.
The South Pacific island nation made this call at a global forum on climate and environment – jointly organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Institute for Environmental Assessment (IEA) – as it made known its strong leadership position in championing the climate change mitigation and the continued collaboration with international communities.
Fiji’s Ambassador in Brussels and Permanent Representative to the European Union Deo Saran reflected on the outcome of the COP23 and COP24, and the alliance forged between the two presidencies of the two COPs (Fiji and Poland) in calling for more action.
“The chief output, of course, was the joint Talanoa Call for Action of the Fijian and Polish Presidents. From what some might say is an unlikely alliance, came a very clear call for action from parties and non-party stakeholders,” Mr Saran said.
He reminded the international community on the joint statement supported by all parties following the COP conference in 2018 that highlighted that the “world is off the track from the warming goals of the Paris Agreement”.
Mr Saran said the same statement noted the benefits of holding global warming to just 1.5 degrees as highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and their conclusion that global emissions needed to be halved by 2030 to be on track for that goal.
Fiji acknowledges the progress made so far in terms of raising climate ambition, he says.
“We should recognise the substantial progress that has been made to ensure that nationally-determined contributions (NDC) guidelines are mandatory for all parties from their second round of NDCs.
“Although we may have decided on the guidelines for our NDCs and the registry that would house them, we continue to delay our actions on climate ambition, including with no agreement on a common time frame for our NDCs.
“Our national capacity has exemplified with bold decisions that we are serious about achieving the temperature goal.
“This is reflected as the Marshall Islands and Fiji have become the first two Pacific island nations to launch 2050 strategies for net zero emission economies and to commit to strengthened NDCs. If we can do it, others should.”
