IPCC SR1.5 – It’s Not Over Yet

ECO “welcomes” the majority of Parties who stood up for “welcoming” the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C in the SBSTA plenary on Saturday. Because of objections from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the USA and Russia, the draft text for SBSTA L.19 document merely says Parties “take note of the IPCC SR 1.5” instead of “welcome the IPCC report”. When it was presented at SBSTA plenary, starting from Maldives on behalf of AOSIS, AILAC, EIG, LDC, Costa Rica, Canada, Norway, EU, Belize, Tuvalu and many others stood up and voiced strongly a wish to bring back “welcome”. St. Kitts and Nevis got a big round of applause for their intervention. As there was no consensus, the matter now is in the hands of the COP Presidency.

ECO knows that the scientific findings are there no matter how hard these four countries try to ignore them. At the same time ECO was really encouraged to see such a huge majority of Parties taking the findings of the IPCC SR 1.5 report to heart. ECO strongly urges all Parties to let the findings be reflected by raising their level of ambition and in the Paris Agreement Rulebook.

ECO encourages the Presidency to assign a Ministerial Pair to facilitate discussions on a COP24 ambition decision that includes the reference to the IPCC 1.5°C report, the outcomes of the Talanoa Dialogue, NDC updates and enhancement by 2020, Pre-2020 as well as the Means of Implementation.

Parties, let us welcome the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of SR 1.5°C!