By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS | MADRID (IDN) – The 79-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union, which together make up more than half of the signatories to the Paris Agreement on climate change, have called for increased ambition at global level to close the gap between the commitments made so far and what would be necessary to meet the long-term global temperature goal of the Agreement.
The EU and the ACP Group of States are deeply concerned about the latest scientific reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which provide further proof of the extreme urgency of strengthening the global response to climate change. They are therefore calling on countries to engage in long-term planning to help successfully translate increased ambition into concrete policy measures.
European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Ministers from the European Union and the ACP Group of States met at COP25 in Madrid on December 13.
Timmermans said: “The European Union is on a decisive path towards climate neutrality. We believe that a deep and socially just transformation of our economy is both necessary and economically beneficial. Solidarity is at the heart of the European Green Deal, both at home in Europe and with our partners around the world. With the European Green Deal we are presenting a roadmap for action which we hope can serve as an inspiration for our international partners too.”
ACP Secretary General Dr Patrick I. Gomes added: “The latest climate science confirms that the impacts of climate change are an increasing threat to all ACP countries that have the least capacities to adapt. The ACP Group acknowledges that the scale of the effort required to fight global climate change remains insufficient and calls for strengthening the global response to climate change in the context of sustainable development.”
They were joined by Finnish Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Krista Mikkonen. “A coherent and clear vision of how to reach climate neutrality by 2050 must guide our decision-making in the short-term. We are now living the defining years. The pace of emission reductions must be significantly accelerated. The EU will continue to show leadership in updating our NDC. We will also continue to work with other major economies to increase ambition,” she said.
The EU and the ACP Group of States stress the need to further increase ambition ahead of next year’s COP26 in Glasgow. All Parties are expected to communicate mid-century, long-term, low greenhouse gas emission development strategies and update their nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement in 2020.
Both groups emphasise the economic and societal opportunities arising from the transition to low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient economies.
The EU and the ACP Group are long-standing partners in international climate cooperation and will continue to work together and mobilise further investment. EU funding for cooperation with ACP countries on climate change amounted to €1.7 billion from 2014 to 2018.
This includes action to strengthen the resilience and adaptation capacities of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through the Intra-ACP Global Climate Change Alliance Plus – a joint initiative of the EU and the ACP Group of States funded by the 11th European Development Fund which is worth €70 million.
Other examples of ACP-EU cooperation include the Climate Services Programme (€85 million) – an initiative to strengthen the capacities of regional hydro-meteorological organisations to access and use climate information and services for policy decision-making, and an upcoming programme on disaster risk reduction (€100 million) to be launched in 2020 as a follow up to the ongoing programme worth €180 million. [IDN-InDepthNews – 14 December 2019]
Photo credit: UNFCCC.
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