The Ambassador of the European Union in the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, has called on major emitters to be more ambitious in their reduction of carbon emissions.
In a video posted on Twitter, Seam highlighted the findings of the recently issued Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which found that there is a slim chance that the world could stop temperatures rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius that must be immediately grasped, suggesting the world is at a tipping point on climate disaster.
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change clearly tells us that more needs to be done to achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement on climate to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees,” Seam said in the video posted on Twitter.
“This is particularly important for the Pacific because this is the region of the world most exposed to the negative impacts of climate change, especially with sea level rise and more frequent and more severe extreme weather events.
“Major emitters need to be more ambitious in their reduction of carbon emission.”
He added that the European Union leads the way with a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050.
“But our partners need to join us to achieve an ambitious objective in the COP26 in Glasgow,” he said.
COP26 is a forthcoming climate change conference about science and innovation in the face of climate disaster.
The conferences are annual meetings held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) and assess participating countries’ progress on reducing emissions.
A COP26 statement issued in July this year highlighted a meeting of Pacific Island leaders with COP26 President-Designate Alock Sharma.
“Leaders agreed with the COP26 President that the world needs to step up its emissions targets and its actions to keep the 1.5 temperature limit alive, noting that we have now reached levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that we have not seen for 3 million years,” the statement reads.
“Leaders talked about the need for greater action sooner, commenting that flattening the curve on temperature warming by the middle of the century would be too late, that emissions must peak by 2025. Early peaking is necessary not only to protect climate vulnerable Pacific SIDS but also larger, more resilient countries who will also experience greater severity and frequency of heat domes, wildfires, floods and storms and therefore need to take action to close the mitigation gap. High emitters, especially G20, must commit to higher mitigation targets now, and COP26 must set the path for peaking emissions by 2025. Finance and access to finance are lagging behind the needs of countries.
According to the statement, participants highlighted the importance of including super pollutants, such as methane, black carbon and HFCs, in reduction targets.
Rapid reduction of these powerful GHGs could make a significant difference to the achievability of the 1.5 degrees’ target, the statement reads.
SOURCE: SAMOA OBSERVER/PACNEWS
