COP26: Demand payments for carbon debts – ERA to African countries

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), has called on African governments and delegates to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (CoP26) to be resolute in their demand for climate change liability and payments for carbon debts by rich countries.

ERA/FoEN, in a press statement in Benin City, noted that in recent times, rich countries showed some appreciable effort to address climate change with a few countries such as the USA, Germany and the United Kingdom taking the lead in renewed pledges to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) to address the mitigation and adaptation measures in developing countries, Tribune reported.

ERA/FoEN insisted that rich countries’ efforts so far had grossly fallen short of expectations and were unlikely to be on target to close the gap on limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 Degrees Celsius.

According to the environmental group, “a recent UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report warns that unless global greenhouse gas emissions fall by 7.6 per cent each year between 2020 and 2030, the world will miss the opportunity to get on track towards the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.”

“To address the lack of equity and fairness in addressing climate change, the impact of climate change compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to buffet vulnerable countries, especially in Africa.

“Given the rate of fiscal responsibility and allocations in addressing climate events in Europe and America and the robust response to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an undeniable dichotomy between the rich and poor countries that betray the lack of equity and fairness in addressing these issues in the developing countries.

“According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, climate change impact will continue to be on the rise and with growing intensity hence the need for urgency.’’