On the eve of the 29th Climate Conference (COP29) to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the speakers at a seminar organised by non-government organisations in Dhaka said on Saturday that the earth will no longer be habitable if the global warming exceeds two degrees Celsius in 2100. Climate finance is the most important topic at the upcoming COP29.
Therefore, the main focus of all government delegations, including Bangladesh, should be to reduce carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2030 compared with 2019 to keep the global temperature in 2100 between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.
This is what the speakers said at the seminar organized by EquityBD, a network of non-government development and humanitarian organisations, at the CIRDAP Auditorium, Topkhana Road, Dhaka on Saturday.
The co-hosting organisations of the seminar are COAST Foundation, CDP, CPRD, AOSED, BCJF, Manusher Jonno Foundation and CSRL.. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Chief Moderator of EquityBD, presided over the seminar where. Dharitri Kumar Sarkar of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Dr Fazle Rabbi of PKSF, Shamsuddoha of CPRD, Ziaul Haque Mukta of CSRL, Ahsanul Wahed of Manusher Jonno Foundation, Jahangir Hasan Masum of CPD and Syed Aminul Huq of COAST Foundation spoke. Abul Hasan of the COAST Foundation presented the keynote speech.
Shamsuddoha of CPRD, a member of the government delegation at the Climate Conference, said that no definition of climate finance has been set. As a result, all money, including loans and investments from rich countries responsible for climate change to poor and affected countries, continues to be called climate finance. He said that the aid money owed by the affected countries was not given through the UNFCCC but was channelled through various financial institutions including the World Bank who are doing business with the MVCs.
Dharitri Kumar Sarkar of the Ministry of Environment and Forests said that today's discussion and recommendations will be added to the position paper prepared by the Bangladesh government for the upcoming climate conference. He said that the biggest challenge of the climate conference is that all 128 members have to agree to take any decision. As a result, quick decisions are not possible there.
Dr Fazle Rabbi of PKSF said less than 1 per cent of the money pledged by rich countries for climate change mitigation or adaptation has come to the affected countries. Again, even if the money comes, we are often unable to use it due to infrastructural challenges and policy constraints. These must be resolved.
CSRL's Ziaul Haque Mukta said that even if all the countries in the world implement 100 per cent of their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global warming will exceed 3.1 per cent by 2100.
That would be a terrible disaster for the earth. This warming must be kept within 2 degrees Celsius to keep the earth habitable. Therefore 42 per cent of the GHG emission must be reduced by 2030 compared with that of 2019. There are no visible efforts for it.
Abul Hasan of the COAST Foundation said during the keynote speech that the government should play a role in favour of not imposing any conditions for the poor and affected countries in the new global climate finance.
He said the main discussion of the upcoming climate conference will be about financing. To make that funding need-based and realistic, recipient countries must submit their realistic needs within the timeframe.
Syed Aminul Haque of COAST Foundation said that to make climate finance result-oriented, a new global financial framework must be formulated. The existing structure is not able to give results.
Moderator of the seminar Rezaul Karim Chowdhury concluded that at least 75 per cent of climate finance should be managed through the UNFCCC. The more funding that goes out of the UNFCCC, the more this funding will be traded.
