- I thank Minister Alok Sharma, DSG, and the Permanent Representatives of France, Chile, and Italy for their comprehensive briefings.
- The Paris Agreement charted a new and ambitious course for global climate action in 2015. Yet today, we remain seriously off the track in our efforts to translate our promises into actions. The Covid-19 pandemic has proved to be a threat-multiplier for climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh. Amid the pandemic, we have been facing devastating cyclones, floods, and other natural disasters.
- As such, we have a lot of expectations of COP-26. And we are [greatly] encouraged to see the efforts of the Co-Chairs to rally support for ambitious climate targets in the lead up to Glasgow. The upcoming summit is an important opportunity towards that end. Allow me to share some of our priorities and expectations of the summit:
First, we must redouble efforts to limit the global warming by 1.5 degree centigrade. Bangladesh is now the President of the 48-member Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF). In that capacity, my Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared that the 31st of December 2020 would be the cut-off date for our “Midnight Survival Deadline” to reduce carbon emissions to the lowest level. She urged Governments to submit highly ambitious NDCs to meet that deadline.
Second, in COP25, efforts were far from adequate to meet the climate finance goal of 100 billion dollars by 2020. We must leverage the December Summit to build consensus around finance issues. It is imperative to scale up global efforts to fill out the burgeoning gaps in climate financing.
Third, we wish to see the summit give special attention to vulnerable groups such as the LDCs and the SIDS. And also consider the special circumstances of graduating LDCs which are on the frontline of climate vulnerabilities.
Fourth, we would like to see constructive and productive dialogue in narrowing down our gaps on loss and damage issue. We stand ready to contribute to any efforts that would lead to a tangible progress in this area.
Finally, we reiterate the critical need for technology and knowledge transfer for carrying forward our mitigation and adaptation efforts, especially now to build back better from Covid-19 pandemic.
I thank you all.