His Excellency, Mr Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt has invited Heads of State and Government to the Sharm El-Sheik Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS) on 7 and 8 November. The slogan of SCIS is: together for implementation. At the official opening ceremony, he underlined that millions of people on this planet have gazes turned towards us. The principle of shared and joint responsibility and multilateral trust will be the best guarantee of progress for achieving our goals, as we need solidarity to respect our differences.
António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations said that the answer was in our hands. The clock is ticking. And we are losing. In the present, hopefully, transitional turmoil of geopolitical events and crises we cannot afford our attention not to be focused on climate change, as climate change is on a way different timeline and scale. Many of today’s conflicts are linked to climate chaos and human activity is the cause of the problem, therefore, human action must be the solution. The 1.5-degree goal is on life support. Developed countries must take the lead, but emerging countries also need to join. A window of opportunity remains open with an extremely narrow shred of light. We need a climate solidarity pact for the 1.5-degree goal and the provided financial and technical assistance to speed up the renewable energy transition. A pact that provides universal and affordable, sustainable energy for all. We need progress in adaptation to provide resilience to climate change. We need a clear roadmap on loss and damage and an institutional financial framework for that, as this is the litmus test of our global climate efforts.
In his plan unveiled today, he shared that ever-rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are supercharging extreme weather events across the planet. These increasing calamities cost lives and hundreds of billions of US dollars in loss and damage, as half of humanity is already in the danger zone. Three times more people are displaced by climate disasters than by war. Early warnings save lives and provide vast economic benefits. Just 24 hours’ notice of an impending hazardous event can cut the ensuing damage by 30 per cent. It will cost only the equivalent of just 50 cents per person per year for the next five years to reach everyone on Earth with early warnings against increasingly extreme and dangerous weather.
“We must invest equally in adaptation and resilience. That includes the information that allows us to anticipate storms, heatwaves, floods and droughts. To that end, I have called for every person on Earth to be protected by early warning systems within five years, with the priority to support the most vulnerable first,” said Mr Guterres.
The Egyptian hosts emphasised during the opening ceremony the track that humanity must reserve and the order that we must restore. The question is always whether we want to make history or just become the victims of history. We should be determined to make history. The African Union provides 4 per cent of global GHG emissions, while they suffer from the adverse impacts of climate change the most. All they request is a just and equitable green transition. Furthermore, 600 million Africans are still deprived of electricity. And, at the same time, African countries are rich in sun and wind. As Former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore continued, Africa has 40 per cent of global renewable potential. We have to move beyond fossil fuel colonialism and instead of our renewed dash for gas and coal, we must invest in renewables. Solar energy is the cheapest energy in the world. Today’s sustainability revolution has the magnitude of the industrial revolution. It is always a choice to continue this pattern of destructive behaviour, said Al Gore. Climate change is the Apartheid of our times. A choice is set before humanity: we do not need to choose curses, we can choose blessings.
Photo: Dr Barbara Botos.
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