“The heart of the implementation of climate pledges lies with everybody everywhere in the world, doing everything they possibly can to address the climate crisis.”
United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, has said the global body will be holding world leaders and people to account in order to make their policies align with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Convention.
The UNFCCC official disclosed this while delivering his remarks at the opening plenary of the 27th edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt Sunday.
“We will be holding people to account, be they presidents, prime ministers or CEOs, accountability
chief to make our policies, our businesses on infrastructure in order for our actions, even personal or the public must be aligned with the Paris agreements and with the convention,” Mr Stiell said.
He emphasised that the heart of the implementation of climate pledges lies with everybody everywhere in the world, doing everything they possibly can to address the climate crisis.
“With the Paris Rulebook essentially concluded thanks to COP26 in Glasgow last year, the litmus test of this and every future COP is how far deliberations are accompanied by action. Everybody, every single day, everywhere in the world, needs to do everything they possibly can to avert the climate crisis,” Mr Stiell said.
He said: “COP27 sets out a new direction for a new era of implementation: where outcomes from the formal and informal process truly begin to come together to drive greater climate progress — and accountability for that progress.”
Key Focus
Mr Stiell asked governments to focus on three critical areas at COP27.
He explained that the first is a transformational shift to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and putting negotiations into concrete actions.
“The second is cementing progress on the critical workstreams of mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage, while stepping up finance notably to tackle the impacts of climate change,” he said.
Me Stiell said the third focus of governments across the world is to enhance the delivery of the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the UN Climate Change process.
COP 27 Presidency Vision Based on Human Needs
On his part, the Egyptian COP27 President, Sameh Shoukry, said the presidency intends to focus the world’s attention on key elements that address some of the most fundamental needs of people everywhere, including water security, food security, health and energy security.
He said: “We’re gathering this year at a time when global climate action is at a watershed moment. Multilateralism is being challenged by geopolitics, spiraling prices, and growing financial crises, while several countries battered by the pandemic have barely recovered, and severe and depleting climate change-induced disasters are becoming more frequent.”
Conference of Parties
The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts.
This year’s COP27 creates a unique opportunity for the world to unite, to make multilateralism work in order to restore trust and come together at the highest levels to increase ambitious targets and action in fighting the devastating climate change effects impacting the world.
“COP27 must be remembered as the ‘Implementation COP’ – the one where we restore the grand bargain that is at the centre of the Paris Agreement,” Mr Shoukry said.