BORN: every week into the UN global climate change conference – also referred to as the COP23 — in Bonn, Germany, gruelling discussions on raising climate finance started on Tuesday.
Developing countries, Pakistan included, have shown interest in discussions on adaptation measures, capacity-building, and climate finance.
While the worldwide objective is to curb emissions and protect people against global climate change , the value of funding climate action initiatives, like greener infrastructure and turning to more renewable energy usage, are increasing. during a series of discussions on climate finance, key takeaways included the necessity to urge finance to flow in order that the potential to take a position in areas like clean energy and climate-friendly agriculture is realised. Eric Usher, the top of the finance initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme, said: “At the guts of the climate challenge are two gaps we urgently got to bridge — the ambition and therefore the investment gap.”
On Monday, the Green Climate Fund announced that it had committed $2.2billion in expenditures whereas it's $40bn worth of projects marked for execution.
Countries vulnerable to rising sea levels, droughts and flooding are particularly anxious about climate finance dehydration because the US withdraws its financial contributions.
The majority of submitted national climate plans with an adaptation component prioritise water requiring finance to the tune of $295bn annually to satisfy targets.
A lack of funding for the water sector would mean compromising on other development goals (energy, food security, education) for countries like Pakistan.
Meanwhile, US billionaire media mogul, Michael Bloomberg, has pledged $50 million towards the worldwide effort to scrap coal power albeit the Trump administration has officially spurned climate action and favours promoting fossil fuels.
On Sunday (Nov 12), global leaders signed the Bonn-Fiji Commitment for further and faster climate action at the government level.
This is a big commitment to sustainable development when quite half the world’s population lives in cities — expected to succeed in to two-thirds by 2050.
Bridging the emissions gap
The target of reducing heating to below 2°C set by the Paris Agreement has defined the direction of climate action for the approaching decades.
It has been agreed that countries will undertake voluntary actions and reduce emissions though their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). consistent with UNEPs Emissions Gap Report 2017, released concurrent with COP23, current pledges don't cover quite a 3rd of the emissions reduction needed.
In other words, albeit all countries’ NDCs were implemented, the numbers still come short of worldwide targets.
If the emission gap isn't bridged by 2030, it's extremely unlikely that the goal of holding heating at 2°C are going to be achieved.
There is a growing consensus that national emission levels, particularly for larger economies, got to peak and start to say no now instead of expecting 2030.
This necessitates immediate action by major emitters and corrective measures by those that are anticipating a faster rate of growth , like Pakistan.
As nations begin to report on the implementation status from 2020 onwards and periodically revise their NDCs for deeper and more ambitious reductions, equity and transparency will emerge because the central issue.
No wonder, then, that the agreement on the Paris ‘rulebook’ has become one among the moot points at Bonn.
Meaningful engagement during these global negotiations require detailed prior preparation at national and provincial levels, engaging experts, specialised institutions and anxious government departments.
Because most of those issues are negotiated concurrently, delegations are stretched and understandably prioritise certain areas at the value of others.
What’s at stake for Pakistan
Between Bonn and COP24 in Warsaw in 2018, federal and provincial governments will got to bring their NDCs to the precedence assuring implementation to succeed in targets.
Pakistan has yet to initiate and agree on the method of clarifying provincial responsibilities to satisfy specific targets, procuring financing and formulating reporting mechanisms.
Like mitigation, adaptation is another important issue on the agenda of COP23.
The fact that COP23 is hosted by Fiji has reflected the priority of developing countries to speak more about adaptation with a twin purpose of building greater resilience to counter the impact of global climate change and boost access to climate finance adaptation.
Pakistan has been consistently ranked high in several vulnerability indices, reflecting the necessity for augmented investments to scale back climate vulnerabilities and enhance resilience through water, food and energy security and enhancing livelihood options.
However, currently, given the Fijian presidency of COP23 also because the recent wave of hurricanes within the Caribbean, attention has been drawn towards these highly vulnerable island nations — and faraway from Pakistan.
Investing in SDGs to satisfy global climate change targets
There is seldom regard to the Sustainable Development Goals within the NDCs, because they were finalised and ratified a few year after the NDCs were submitted.
Because global climate change has emerged as a development issue, there's an emerging window of opportunity to take a position within the SDGs to satisfy climate targets as set in our NDCs.
Both commitments are voluntarily prescribed by our government; regarding both, there's growing global expectation for meaningful and verifiable progress.
The SDGs and NDCs are designed for implementation in an integrated manner and adopt bottom-up practices requiring financial resources from domestic and international sources.
In Pakistan’s context, stage of action for both lies within the provinces, after the 18th Amendment, and are anchored firmly in planning and development departments.
The NDC submitted by Pakistan, for instance , focuses totally on energy, agriculture, industrial processes, land use and forestry, and waste.
These priorities relate to specific SDG targets. Meeting these commitments will depend on sustained political will through changes in government, cohesive public and personal partnerships, and parliamentary oversight to make sure transparency.
0 Comments