HONG KONG: All countries should use the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties and the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 20/CMP10) in Lima from Dec.1 to Dec.12 to resolve the stalemate on climate finance and make critical talks in Paris in December 2015 successful, an international humanitarian agency has said.
Oxfam said in its new report entitled “Breaking the Standoff” that current pledges were out of step with the magnitude of need in developing countries and called on world leaders to outline a robust new strategy to boost climate finance.
“Developed countries promised to mobilize $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020, but headway in mobilizing that funding has been slow,” Oxfam said.
The agency continued that if progress were made on climate finance, the clean development that developed and less developed countries could achieve would be spectacular. Indonesia, for instance, could fulfil its plan to cut emissions by 41 percent in 15 years.
However, the $100 billion climate promise can only be the start. An effective climate policy regime will also unlock hundreds of billions more in private investment and move the world onto a low-carbon path that keeps warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
“The $100 billion promise is an iconic reference point in global climate negotiations. Countries have haggled over it for years. But for people on the front lines of the climate crisis, this abstract number has made little to no difference in their lives,” Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said on Monday.
She said the COP 20 Summit in Lima would set the stage for success or failure in Paris; thus, countries needed clear commitments on climate finance, focused on what developing countries actually needed.
“Vague promises won’t help people to adapt to the harmful effects of climate change, or help countries to pursue cleaner paths to growth and development,” Byanyima said.
To achieve progress on climate finance in Lima, Oxfam said in a blueprint that the Paris agreement must set out exactly how climate finance should be accessed and spent, identify new sources of public and private finance, and establish a “fair shares” framework to mobilize the necessary financial flows and direct them to the right places