admin
Kudzanai Sharara in Dubai, UAE
As conflicts across the world escalate, it is pertinent to maintain focus on the actions that must be taken to mitigate the existential crisis of climate change, President Mnangagwa has said.
He said this at the G77+China COP28 Leaders’ Summit that took place on Saturday as part of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) underway here.
His call to focus on the actions that must be taken to mitigate the existential crisis of climate change comes at a time when United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the same meeting that “climate finance still has a long way to go”.
Mr Guterres said developed countries must clarify the delivery of the US$100 billion commitment.
“We need also to see a clear plan to double adaptation finance to US$40 billion a year by 2025 as a first step to devoting at least half of all climate finance to adaptation.
“And we need to see much greater support for the new Loss and Damage Fund. It started well but with not much money,” said Mr Guterres.
He said up to eighteen times more finance is needed for adaptation to meet the current needs of developing countries.
G77+China countries face crushing debt burdens, fuelled by sky-high borrowing costs, that hamper efforts to reduce emissions and protect people from increasingly deadly storms, floods and droughts.
Despite the funding challenges President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe continues to adopt holistic and creative solutions to reduce emissions, including through increased investments in renewable energy, funding for climate action, and clear emission reduction targets.
He said as the region continues to experience some of the worst losses and damages attributable to climate change “the need to implement unfulfilled agreements, cannot be ignored”.
“The First Global Stocktake is an invaluable opportunity to evaluate progress made with regards to mitigating and adapting to climate change.
“This must be used as a benchmark to confront challenges and meet gaps that still exist,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said the climate finance mechanism demands collective attention and that the hurdles that hinder the flow of funds to developing countries must be removed.
“The operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund remains a priority.
“The New Quantified Goal on Climate Finance should go beyond mere words and result in concrete financial support.
“Our Group should, therefore, continue to strongly urge developed economies to accelerate the de-carbonisation agenda by directing industrial investments to the global South, riding on our abundant clean energy sources.”
Online Reporter