OUR current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions made under the Paris Agreement fall far short of the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius above that of the pre-industrial age.
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama highlighted this in his welcoming remarks at the talanoa dialogue event at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco today.
“Part of the reason for this is because many NDCs do not incorporate the best ideas and solutions that are being implemented at the sub-national level,” Mr Bainimarama said.
He said the whole idea of the talanoa dialogues was to swap best practices and canvass ways of raising our collective ambition.
“To lay the groundwork so that when political leaders gather at COP24 this December, they are able to signal their commitment to stepping up ambition,” Mr Bainimarama said.
“A commitment that by the time the nations of the world convene again in New York next September for the UN summit to review the progress made since Paris, the existing NDCs are revised resolutely upwards,” he said.
He told the participants at the talanoa dialogue that they must shift the current global debate to the opportunities that will flow with imagination, ingenuity and political will and create an unstoppable force for change.
Mr Bainimarama thanked the Governor of California and his COP23 Special Envoy for States and Regions, Jerry Brown, for his own inspirational leadership of the climate struggle.
