CANSA urges all countries to submit ambitious climate action plans, as UN deadline for Paris Agreement submissions approaches
25 December 2020, Dhaka/New Delhi: Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), a coalition of about 300 non-governmental organisations and networks, made an urgent appeal today to all countries to submit ambitious climate action plans as per their fair-share, also known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to stay below 1.5°C global warming.
The deadline for all countries to increase ambition since the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and these plans are to be submitted to the UN climate convention before midnight on 31 December 2020.
Sanjay Vashist, Director of Climate Action Network South Asia, says:
“As the planet is rocked by climate shocks, the very survival of most vulnerable nations, people and communities around the world, depends upon equitable and ambitious emission cuts and availability of finance to combat climate change.”
“This is the real test of the Paris agreement and the only hope for a world gripped by the double whammy of a raging pandemic and climate crisis.”
The appeal is made in support of a call made earlier by H.E. Sheikh Hasina, President of Climate Vulnerable Forum, an international partnership of 48 developing nations most threatened by the global climate emergency.
Under the Paris Agreement, NDCs are commitments of what each country is planning to do in order to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, as well as adapt to climate change. On the fifth anniversary of the Paris agreement and a few days before the deadline, only 23 countries have actually submitted enhanced NDCs, 9 have proposed targets and 130 countries are yet to update their targets.
The scientific community has reached consensus on the serious harm to people and communities, loss of species and territory if the world warms beyond the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement. Most national NDC climate targets still date back to 2015 and have us headed for a 3°C+ world. Global emissions need to shrink by over 7% each year till 2030 to stay on track for 1.5°C. The next time all countries need to submit stronger, updated climate targets is half a decade away in 2025.
NOTES:
The CVF’s Climate Survival Leadership Barometer, shows countries that have and have not formally committed to submit enhanced 2030 climate targets under the Paris Agreement (called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs) and where any commitments were made. The “Barometer” also shows which countries have already submitted their NDCs, and provides an assessment of the strength of each NDC, the collective ambition of all NDCs being a matter of survival for vulnerable
countries.
The CVF countries are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Kiribati, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Senegal, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Viet Nam and Yemen.
