11 November 2024, Baku Azerbaijan - As thousands of delegates descend upon Azerbaijan for the Twenty-Ninth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), the lead Coordinator for the Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) for the Mitigation Workstream, Ms Toiata Uili of Samoa, has issued a timely reminder to all.
“1.5 for Small Island Developing States is non-negotiable, this is vital, we need this 1.5 to stay alive,” she said.
The call for 1.5 to stay alive refers to the promise of the Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius which remains technically possible for the world to achieve. Anything warmer and the impacts of climate change will be dire.
COP29 takes place in the shadow of the upcoming deadline for nations to provide updated plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement by February 2025. These commitments, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), lie at the heart of the Paris Agreement’s goal of curbing the rise in global temperatures.
“COP 29 as we all know is a finance COP and all lights point to climate finance as a priority. For our mitigation worksstream however, it’s important that our SIDS message about keeping 1.5 alive is not lost and ignored,” said Ms Uili.
She is among Pacific leaders, Ministers and negotiators who have had to travel for several days to get to Baku to advocate for the survival of their communities, who have been unfairly placed at the forefront of climate change impacts. Pacific countries remain adamant that the fight to keep global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels must be the priority in all efforts to advance global climate ambition at COP29.
For several years, Ms Uili said the message of 1.5 has been tossed back and forth, and it feels like the focus on this most critical aspect of climate negotiations, is slowly slipping.
“The biggest challenge here in Baku, and as always in these spaces, is making sure our voices are heard, and keeping that 1.5 alive,” she said. “There has been a lot of distractions on other tracks and other thematic areas that have sort of resulted in that 1.5 message slipping away somehow. For us, we hope that our other colleagues across all different thematic areas will continue to revive this call for 1.5.”
COP29 is opening on the heels of a new United Nations report cautioning that current national climate plans fall miles short of what’s needed to stop global heating from crippling every economy and wrecking billions of lives. The UNFCCC 2024 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Synthesis Report found that the voluntary commitments have not set the world on course to contain heating to 1.5°C, much less 2°C. Current policies put the planet on track to experience approximately a 2.6-3.1°C rise by 2100, according to UN estimates.
“Ever since the NDCs were established they were supposed to align to 1.5 and for us as Small Island Developing States, it's a must,” said Ms Uili.
The Pacific’s work at COP29 will focus on priority thematic areas such as Climate Finance especially on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), Mitigation, Just Transition, Adaptation, Finance, Article 6, Oceans and Climate Change, Loss and Damage, Global Stocktake (GST) and Gender and Social Inclusion.
For Ms Uili, she believes it is important to make 1.5 the guiding star for COP29, and all climate change work.
“All these thematic areas, whether it's climate finance, adaptation or mitigation or loss and damage, have equal importance to small island states, and that's what we're trying to push for at these negotiations. At COP29 we will continue to restate and advocate for a message they've been tossing around since COP27 that 1.5 is our guiding star and it should continue to be the guiding star. 1.5 for us Small Islands States is non-negotiable.”
Samoa is at the forefront of efforts to address issues associated with the impacts of climate change. On a global scale, Samoa’s contribution to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are negligible as highlighted in its Second National Communication (SNC) and second GHG Inventory 2020.
Despite the low contribution to global emissions, Samoa is ramping up its efforts to reduce its GHG emissions. Samoa is targeting the energy sector with a focus on the electricity sub-sector.
As mandated by the Secretariat, countries are to submit enhanced/updated NDC every five years to reflect their updated climate action targets.
The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place from 11-22 November 2024 in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.
It is being attended by Pacific leaders and their delegations, who are advocating for the survival of Pacific communities who continue to be at the forefront of climate change impacts.
A key part of amplifying the One Pacific Voice at COP29 is the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion and the Pacific Delegation Office.
The Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion at COP29 is a Pacific partnership with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand managed by SPREP and the Pacific Delegation Office at COP29 is a Pacific partnership with the New Zealand Government managed by SPREP.
Learn more about the One Pacific Voice at this link!