PM BAINIMARAMA HOLDS TALKS WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), the Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson along the margins of COP26 today.
Wrapping up a busy two weeks of the 26th Conference of Parties, Prime Minister Bainimarama met with Hon. Boris Johnson to convey his gratitude to the UK Government for their leadership at COP26 and to also raise matters of mutual concern.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Bainimarama informed Prime Minister Johnson of his concern that the world is falling short on two top priorities namely cash and coal.
On emissions, PM Bainimarama said he is disappointed that some developed countries have failed to offer deeper cuts that can limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celcius adding that Fiji will continue to call them out.
On Finance, Prime Minister Bainimarama said Fiji is working on pushing for a decision text for COP26 - on setting a clear dedicated process for setting a new quantified goal on climate finance post 2025. Recognizing the failure of developed country partners on meeting the US $100 billion goal, PM Bainimarama said Fiji can not afford to delay setting a new post 2025 finance goal.
Prime Minister Bainimarama further said there is a need to establish a special Ad-Hoc working group to work on identifying elements for a new quantified goal on climate finance post 2025 and a goal set by no later than 2024, he echoed his disappointment that there is no mention of this in the decision text released this morning.
With regards to the US $100 billion goal and the plan put forward by developed country partners to achieve by 2023, Prime Minister Bainimarama said there is a need to have a strong decision text to continue independently evaluating and tracking progress on the US $100 billion goal until 2025. He acknowledged the place holder in Paragraph 26 of the draft COP26 covering decision text released this morning.
Prime Minister Bainimarama also informed the UK Prime Minister of Fiji's COP26 priorities by way of meaningful progress to address Loss and Damage, which currently lacks a definition in the negotiations. He said the decision text released last night does not reflect any process nor does it reflect the position of AOSIS or PSIDS. Fiji seeks an outcome on this at COP to not only avert and minimise loss and damage, but to address it through a dedicated financial mechanism which is backed by the United Nations. The decision text according to PM Bainimarama must create a process and structure for mobilizing finance for loss and damage so that Fiji can compensate nations for what has been lost and what will be lost.
The Head of the Fijian Government informed the UK Prime Minister that Fiji has a detailed text proposal ready as a commitment to put capacity and resources behind the Santiago Network, a network who’s vision is to catalyse the technical assistance of relevant organisations, bodies, networks and experts, for the implementation of relevant approaches for averting, minimise and addressing Loss and Damage at the local, national and regional level, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
Prime Minister Bainimarama reaffirmed Fiji’s support to the UK Government for the days remaining at COP26 and wished Hon. Boris Johnson well with the rest of his engagements at Glasgow.