Annual Target to Fight Climate Change: Hasina pushes for $100b funds
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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has put forward four suggestions at the Leaders Summit on Climate, including cutting global emission, transferring technology and ensuring attainment of the annual target of mobilising $100 billion as committed by developed countries.
The developed countries had made the commitment to mobilise $100 billion, Green Climate Fund, per year by 2020 for climate actions in the developing countries, but only $30 billion could be mobilised so far.
Stressing the need for the fund, Hasina said it should be balanced 50:50 between adaptation and mitigation with special attention to vulnerable communities.
Presently, a major portion of the $30 billion is spent on mitigation projects, whereas the developing countries need adaptation more than mitigation as they contribute to carbon emissions the least but are affected more.
"Major economies, international financial institutions and private sectors should come forward for concessional climate financing as well as innovation," the PM said on the first day of the two-day summit hosted virtually by US President Joe Biden.
Forty world leaders, including those from major carbon emitting countries like the USA, China, Russia, India, Japan, the UK, and Canada, as well as leaders from climate vulnerable nations and those who demonstrated innovations and leadership in tackling climate change are attending the summit.
President Biden called the summit days after returning to the Paris Climate Agreement from which his predecessor had pulled out. New hopes have been raised following Biden's return to the Paris deal and then hosting the summit ahead of the COP26, to be held in Glasgow in November.
Hasina, president of Climate Vulnerable Forum, a grouping of 48 climate vulnerable countries, thanked Biden for convening the Summit and inviting her to speak to this august gathering. Deeply appreciating the US's return to the Paris deal, she said Bangladesh is keen to engage with the international community.
The PM also suggested pursuing Loss and Damage, a process that refers to the harms caused by anthropogenic climate change within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us that global crisis can only be addressed through strong collective response," she added.
As a responsible member state of the COP, and as the CVF chair, Hasina suggested immediate and ambitious action plan by developed countries to reduce their carbon emissions to keep the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
She said the developing nations should also focus on mitigation measures. "Focus is needed on green economy and carbon neutral technologies with provision of technology transfer among nations."
The premier said despite being a climate vulnerable country with resource constraints, Bangladesh has emerged as a global leader on adaptation and mitigation.
Every year the country is spending about $5 billion, about 2.5 percent of its GDP, on climate adaptation and resilience-building measures, she said, adding that the 1.1 million forcefully displaced Rohingyas who took shelter in Bangladesh following the 2017 military crackdown in Rakhine worsened the country's vulnerability.
Hasina said Bangladesh is pursuing a low carbon development path to raise the country's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and adaptation ambition. The country has also included new sectors in addition to the existing energy, industry and transport sectors in the mitigation process.
She said the Bangladesh government is planning to submit a quantified ambitious NDC by June this year.
Stating that Bangladesh is observing "Mujib Year", marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the PM said the government is planting 30 million saplings nationwide and has adopted "Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan" to achieve low carbon economic growth.
As the chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20, Bangladesh's key focus is to uphold the interests of the climate vulnerable countries, she said.
South Asian regional office of the Global Centre on Adaptation, which is hosted by Bangladesh, is also promoting locally-led adaptation solutions, the PM added.
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