Fijian PM calls for more actions to fight against climate change

SUVA - Fiji's Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama on Friday called for more actions to be taken by the world to better fight climate change.

Addressing the virtual United Nations' high-level roundtable on climate change here on Friday, Bainimarama said that speeches won't save the world and neither will nice tweets or photo-opportunities. The only expectation is action and the world needs solidarity, reductions in emissions that can be measured and resources vulnerable nations can afford to access.

"If we don't win the race to net-zero emissions, we are headed for three or four degrees of global warming -- an Earth we will not recognize and a climate we cannot survive. Speeches won't save us; neither will nice tweets or photo-ops. From here on out, our only expectation is action. We need solidarity we can feel; reductions in emissions we can measure; and resources vulnerable nations can afford to access now," he said.

"This is still our decade of action. It hasn't started as we imagined, but it must finish as we planned, and press onwards to a future of net-zero emissions; the only 'new normal' worth fighting for."

The prime minister also called for greater commitment to increasing global financing for climate action.

"With revenues across the developing world gutted by COVID-19, the resources to fund resilient development are running thin, leaving us exposed to trillions of dollars in climate-driven losses. Without urgent reform to climate finance, we will struggle to fund our very survival."

He said that in advanced economies, rather than compounding the climate crisis by looking backwards to coal and fossil fuels, leaders must view post-pandemic recoveries through the lens of opportunity, heed what the market is telling them, harness renewables, and return people to work in green and blue industries. Governments and the private sector must lead a transparent transition to a more climate-resilient financial sector, beginning with regular reporting of corporate climate risks.

According to the prime minister, Fiji intends to make climate-risk reporting mandatory across every government ministry.

The prime minister also warned on Tuesday that five years post-Paris, global temperature rise is still projected to rocket past the two, three, or even four-degree mark, their ocean ecosystems are acidifying, and a sixth mass extinction event is already underway.

As one of the victims of climate change, Fiji is the first country to ratify the Paris Agreement as well as the first small island state to lead the climate negotiations as President of the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23). Now Fiji is among the nations committed to net-zero emissions by 2050.