Antalya: UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell has urged negotiators to “move swiftly to the hardest issues and to avoid tactical delays,” as the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) reached its halfway mark.
“Getting agreement on every word, every sentence, is tough but vital work. There is no collective success without compromise from every Party,” Stiell said at a press briefing in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya on Saturday (local time), where the two-week event will run through November 20.
He said practical climate initiatives at COP31 are gaining momentum, seeking to bridge international agreements and the real economy through clean energy, resilient infrastructure, greener industry and disaster resilience.
Winning the global climate fight also requires reaching billions of people in their everyday lives through areas such as sports, entertainment, and culture, he added.
“We need to get better at connecting climate impacts and solutions to the things people need — like better health, good jobs, and affordable, secure energy — and with the things they love — like sports,” Stiell said.
Opened on Monday, COP31 aims to shift global climate efforts from pledges to concrete implementation, particularly on scaling up climate finance for developing countries, adaptation and the clean energy transition.
Earlier on Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged developed countries to step up climate financing for developing nations, describing the global climate finance system as marked by “structural injustice.”
Speaking at a press conference at COP31, Guterres pointed to the massive funding gap for vulnerable countries.
“Developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable, will need far greater support for adaptation and for loss and damage,” he said. “Even tripling adaptation finance would meet less than 30 per cent of what is needed.”
Noting that commitments made by developed countries fall short of actual needs, Guterres added: “Those that pollute more have not created the conditions to gather the resources that are necessary to adequately respond to the needs of those that suffer.”
The UN chief also called for more effective use of existing financial resources to expand funding for climate action.
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