South Africa’s President urged world leaders, gathered for the COP28 in, to do more for vunerable countries that disproportionately bear of impact of the climate crisis.
“African countries are among the most vulnerable to the effects of a rapidly changing climate and have to adapt and build resilience within the context of historically low levels of development and severely limited capacity.”
The majority of the carbon emissions that are trapping heat in the atmosphere have historically come from industrialised countries.
On the second day of the international climate talks in Dubai, President Cyril Ramaphosa gave a speech. He’s one among the more than 170 world leaders scheduled to speak at the UN climate conference in Dubai.
Almost every country completed the establishment of a fund to compensate nations who are having difficulty coping with the loss and damage brought on by climate change on the first day of the climate conference.
The COP28 climate conference president, Sultan al-Jaber, announced on Thursday, Nov. 30, that $420 million had been committed in the first hour of the announcement.
Ramaphosa welcomed the move but called for scaled-up grant finance.
“There can be no substitute for new, predictable, at scale and appropriate public finance to support and help developing economy countries build climate resilience. After all, many of them were not even responsible for the damage to the climate as we see it now.”
- Not Up To The Task
According to a count by the environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defence Council, the total amount contributed so far is just over $576 million.
The world’s largest historical polluter, the United States, was criticized by activists for their terribly inadequate offer.
The Climate Justice Alliance’s Bineshi Albert referred to it as “insulting.”
“It is a paltry, shameful amount of money that shows the U.S. is completely uninterested in prioritizing or being accountable to the climate impacts frontline communities are facing,” she said.
$17.5 million has been pledged by the US.
The heads of the two largest carbon-polluting countries, which account for almost 44% of global emissions, aren’t present to receive the direct message, though.
Only a few weeks after establishing a bilateral deal to help reduce methane emissions, Presidents Joe Biden of the United States and Xi Jinping of China are not attending this COP.
