No more empty promises on climate finance: sign the petition

On August 31, 2022, FOCSIV participated in the second of five meetings scheduled between AFRICAN DIALOGUES ON CLIMATE – FOCSIV, to address climate-related issues in the African context in view of the next United Nations conference on climate change, COP27, to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 18 November 2022. The meeting focused on the theme “Climate Finance", with particular attention to the role of the ecological debt that the most developed countries have towards African countries and the differentiated access to finance, as denounced by Pope Francis.

After a quick introduction and welcome to the participants, three experts followed one another to leave a testimony and open a debate to discuss the importance of “climate finance" for Africa and the need to achieve tangible objectives to put an end to further exploitation of local natural resources.

The African countries that suffer most from the impact of climate change, despite having contributed very little to it, have little choice but to apply for loans to finance climate mitigation and adaptation and to subsidize reconstruction and recovery after an extreme climate event. borrowing from the countries and financial markets responsible for that impact. This is because the countries and elites of the north of the world have never paid off their historical social and ecological debt to African countries. Current funding commitments do not come close to meeting the estimated needs, the mobilization of funds is very precarious compared to the commitments undertaken, the funds mobilized often occur in inadequate forms (loans and not gifts) and less than half of the funding allocated is actually delivered.

Given the strong need to allocate “climate finance" to achieve mitigation and adaptation objectives in the most vulnerable countries and communities, it is necessary, on the part of the most developed countries, to recognize climate debt, ecological restoration and an end to extractivism. It’s time to fulfill your “climate finance" obligations!

Consequently, numerous civil society organizations, including FOCSIV with CIDSE, have signed the following petition to the European Union and its member states asking them not to delay the fulfillment of their “climate finance" obligations. That is to say financially supporting impoverished countries by investing in mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and compensating for the losses and damage suffered as a result of climate events.

Action is needed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees as people and communities, especially in impoverished countries, are already suffering from the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. 30 million people had to displace due to the great flood that hit Pakistan. And many other examples can be remembered.

Immediate action is therefore required by the governments of the member states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to fully comply with their “climate finance" obligations, as part of the climate debt reparations they owe to countries belonging to the South. of the world. Financial resources are therefore required that are new, additional to those already existing, predictable, just, fair, such as not to create debts, and accessible to peoples, especially the most vulnerable.

The 070 campaign (The 070 campaign for public development aid – FOCSIV) promoted by FOCSIV with the networks of civil society associations also goes in this direction, so that the Italian State fulfills the objective of investing 0.7% of the gross national income in development aid, as established by the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

We therefore invite civil society organizations to sign the petition to the European Union that you find in Sign-on for the 2022 Climate Finance Petition Letters (google.com)

The petition

To the European Union and its member states,

We, the undersigned civil society organizations (CSOs), social movements, local communities and groups of indigenous peoples, warmly ask for the full and urgent fulfillment of the “climate finance" commitments towards countries belonging to the global South.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (from which the acronym UNFCCC) states that developed countries, including the United States, which have contributed in the past and continue to contribute to a greater extent today to the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, they are obliged to provide “climate finance”, or financial support to the global South. The fulfillment of this obligation is urgently required by developing countries to achieve mitigation and adaptation objectives, as well as to minimize and address the losses and damage caused

i from the climate crisis.

For more than a decade, the peoples and communities of the global South have demanded the full fulfillment of the “climate finance" commitments. Unfortunately, the financial resources that have been made available so far are a pittance compared to the scale of needs and obligations. The $ 100 billion a year target set in 2009 – a much smaller fraction of what is actually owed – remains unsatisfied. Developed countries, including the United States, continue to show reluctance to implement their climate actions, which include funding for the global South.

Science tells us that to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees, the world must achieve zero emissions by 2050. Based on their historical and current emissions, and consistent with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities declared in the UNFCCC, the mitigation actions that developed countries should implement for climate justice are much more than simply achieving zero emissions at the national level. They must also finance mitigation actions in developing countries to meet the principle of equity. Developing countries need to invest in mitigation actions, and they will need to do more for the world to achieve zero emissions by 2050. These additional developing country mitigation actions need to be funded by developed countries that appear to be more responsible climate change and having more resources.

Developed countries must also support finance for adaptation and to cover losses and damage in impoverished countries, due to their enormous responsibility for causing climate change, and its consequent impact on the people and communities that have contributed. less to greenhouse gas emissions but suffering more.

All climate finance must be new and additional, adequate and predictable, as clearly stated in the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.

The latest Standing Committee on Finance needs determination report shows that developing countries need at least $ 5.8 trillion to implement their respective targets for mitigation and adaptation by 2030. This amount will be even higher if developing countries increase their targets for achieving full decarbonisation by 2050, which are needed to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. This amount excludes the projected annual economic cost of losses and damages in developing countries, which is estimated to range between $ 290 and $ 580 billion by 2030.

These amounts should serve as a guide for the financial commitments to be disbursed by developed countries over the next 8 years.

The amount of climate finance disbursed by developed countries so far under the UNFCCC has been very low: USD 13.9 billion delivered to the Green Climate Fund since its inception in 2014, and USD 1 billion to the adaptation since it began its operations in 2007. Furthermore, most of the “climate finance" mobilized is in the form of loans, which push developing countries into further debt, aggravating the suffering of severely affected people and communities from the climate crisis.

The EU and its member states have declared their commitments to climate action and reaffirmed their “climate finance" obligations under the Paris Agreement. We therefore find it senseless that they continue to invest in the fossil fuel industry. In 2019 alone, at least € 59 billion was spent by EU member states to subsidize the coal, oil and gas industry. This makes their climate action statements just empty promises.

As the climate crisis becomes more and more unbearable every day for people and communities in the global South, we ask the European Union to lead the provision of “climate finance", to compensate for years of delay and failure to fulfill their obligations. financial. The time has come for developed countries, such as EU Member States, to urgently move from mere promises of financial mobilization to actually providing adequate “climate finance" that is just and equitable for the peoples and communities of developing countries. development.

Any further delay in the implementation of “climate finance" will only lead to additional financial needs necessary to meet the growing adaptation needs and the losses and damages suffered by the global South, and to accelerate mitigation actions to keep warming below. 1.5 degrees.

No more delays, nothing