CAN Intervention in the ADP2 Bonn Intersessional: Opening Plenary, 29 April 2013

 

Climate Action Network Intervention during Opening Plenary 

29 April 2013

 

Thank you Co-chairs,  

My name is Liz Gallagher and I am speaking on behalf of Climate Action Network.

Climate Change is the single greatest threat faced by humanity, and halting it is our greatest challenge. If climate impacts are becoming visible in developed countries, in much of the developing world they are reaching a breaking point.

Just as we approach the 400 ppm threshold, we are currently on track to more than quadruple current levels of warming by the end of this century – and yet we know adapting to a 4°C world is not possible. 

Both political will and ambition will need to be dramatically increased across the board if the 2015 agreement is to be effective. One method to demonstrate this is for parties to work tirelessly on pre-2020 ambition.

A shared understanding on equity is the key to unlocking the 2015 agreement. A successful outcome demands targets based both on science and on equity. A spectrum approach to this problem that fails to include equity will not deliver ambition and risks jeopardizing the negotiations. What we need is an "equity spectrum" based on the Convention principles.

Thank you co-chairs