Effective climate plans not possible without funds: Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said effective action plans are not possible without adequate, sustained, and flexible climate finance.

"It's sad and disappointing that, till now, the major greenhouse gas-emitting countries have failed to deliver their promised annual amount of 100 billion dollars," she said while presiding over Climate Vulnerable Forum Leaders' Dialogue: Forging a CVF-COP26 Climate Emergency Pact at the COP26 venue on Tuesday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Thematic Ambassador of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Saima Wazed Hossain, among others, spoke at the event.

"Faced with the existential threat of climate change, we, the CVF members, at this COP, demand that developed countries provide a Delivery Plan of a total of 500 billion dollars for each of the entire 5-year period from 2020 to 2024, with a 50:50 ratio between adaptation and mitigation," Hasina said.

She said the CVF members are among the countries worst affected by the adverse impacts of climate change despite having no historical role or responsibility in this crisis.

"At the same time, we, the most vulnerable countries, do not have either sufficient capability or capacity to overcome these challenges. This unfortunate dilemma is that, for survival, we've been swayed to adopt measures on our own to face the devastating consequences of climate change."

PM Hasina, also the CVF chair, said the forum has come up with a "Climate Emergency Pact", which addresses the climate finance Delivery Plan and requests raising ambition at every single COP, especially from major pollution-emitting nations.

"This will ensure continuous progress so that the temperature rise is contained within 1.5 degree Celsius. We call upon the presidency of COP26, and all members of the UNFCCC, to adopt the climate emergency pact as a part of the COP26 declaration."