Nations must implement the agreements reached at the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Cancun (COP16), with further cuts in global emissions and the rapid launch of new institutions and funds to show the world that a new era of international cooperation on climate change is an established fact, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said on Monday.
"Cancun was a big step, bigger than many imagined could be possible. But the time has come to exceed our own expectations," he said.
The Cancun Accords, reached on December 11 in Cancun, Mexico, call countries to the list under the Framework Convention of the emission reduction targets and measures they announced in 2010, forming the collective basis for the greatest mitigation effort the world has ever seen. They also agreed to create a global system of mutual accountability towards those goals.
"It must be implemented as quickly as possible, and it must be accompanied by credible accountability systems that will help measure real progress," Figueres said.
If all of these goals and actions are fully implemented, the United Nations estimates they could deliver only 60 percent of the emissions reductions that science says will be necessary to stay below two degrees Celsius in average temperatures, and two degrees do not guarantee the survival of the most vulnerable peoples. "All countries, but particularly industrialized nations, need to deepen their emission reduction efforts and do so quickly," the Executive Secretary said.
Support to developing countries
The Cancun Accords also include the most comprehensive package ever agreed by governments to help developing countries tackle climate change, including institutions, new financing channels and a technology transfer mechanism to help developing countries build their own sustainable future. of low emissions, adapting more effectively to climate change, and preserving and protecting their forests for the good of all nations.
"In Cancun, governments renewed their confidence in themselves, but to make the most of the need to boldly push ahead with what they have agreed.
Implementation is the most effective way to leverage the support of businesses and civil society, both of which are critical," Figueres said.
"These institutions must be quickly put in place with the expert and active management, and in capital letters, then," she said. Many millions of the world's poor and vulnerable people have been waiting years for the maximum level of assistance they need. Industrialized nations will soon have a clear and comprehensive structure in which they can direct the funds they have promised," he said.
"The Convention secretariat will work intensively to support all governments in this new work. I sincerely hope that when governments meet in South Africa in a year they will be able to point to new and concrete examples of success of people benefiting and the impacts it has on the ground," he said.
"I particularly expect to see quick decisions appointing the board of directors of the new Green Fund and the Technology Mechanism Committee. I also look forward to receiving the details of the quick-start funding from industrialized countries so that the Secretariat can compile the information that clearly shows the amounts that have been raised and disbursed," he said.
The Cancun Accords call on developed nations to submit the Convention's secretariat details on their side in the $30 billion of quick-start funding, which they pledged to deliver between 2010 and 2012 to support developing countries, ahead of an agreed long-term financing program. which will rise to at least 100 billion a year by 2020. The first funding reports are due in May next year.
The Green Fund establishes a long-term climate finance institution for the first time under the supervision of Parties to the Climate Change Convention and with a 24-member board that balances representation between developed and developing nations.
"Cancun has significantly expanded the menu of climate application and resources available to countries at the United Nations, and the United Nations system as a whole stands ready to respond quickly based on country needs.
The imperative to act is now," Figueres said.
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Authors: Val
