73 nations to submit enhanced climate action plans
Madrid: Seventy-three nations on Wednesday signalled their intention to submit an enhanced climate action plan with UN climate change negotiation President and Chile Environment Minister Carolina Schmidt.
Chile has led this alliance after a request of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in the context of the 2019 Climate Summit.
Schmidt announced that 73 nations have signaled their intention to submit an enhanced climate action plan (or Nationally Determined Contribution or NDCs), and she acknowledged those 11 nations who have started an internal process to boost ambition and have this reflected in their national plans by 2020, as established in the Paris Agreement.
She also said 73 Parties to the United Nations’ Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action (UNFCCC), 14 regions, 398 cities, 786 businesses and 16 investors are working towards achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
This demonstrates clearly that both state and non-state actors recognise the urgent need to take ambitious action to address the climate change emergency.
“Today we are strengthening our global push for more ambition. More and more leaders are joining this effort to demonstrate that boosting NDC ambition is both necessary and possible. We are here to listen to what our people are demanding its leaders to do,” said Schmidt said.
She also indicated Chile and Britain will join efforts to mobilize additional actors to join the alliance on the road towards COP26.
The Alliance will also strengthen its work on adaptation and the involvement of the private sector. All efforts will aim to accelerate the transformation needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and ultimately stabilize global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Led by Chile, the Climate Ambition Alliance was launched at the Climate Action Summit in New York,” Guterres said at COP25.
“I am deeply encouraged by the growth (in the Ambition Alliance). The shift from the grey to the green economy is on, and it is gathering pace. As we look ahead to 2020, there is much to be done.”
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said: “Joining the Chile-driven Climate Ambition Alliance is a concrete way to demonstrate that the world is united behind the imperative to boost ambition.”
Under this Alliance, nations can publicly commit to enhancing their national climate plans by 2020, she added.
(Vishal Gulati is in Madrid to cover COP25. He can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in)
