COP27: SA takes richer nations to task

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South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa.

by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) SOUTH Africa will at the COP27 make the case for developed economies to do more to support developing ones to meet their climate change commitments.

It will do so when it chairs a high-level roundtable on just transition, at the event, which is an acronym for the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It is scheduled for Egypt until November 18.

“Africa historically bears the least responsibility for climate change, but it is Africa that is feeling its effects most,” President Cyril Ramaphosa stated.

He was writing in his weekly letter, made available on Monday, a day after COP27 started.

Rampahosa said seven years since the Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21, countries with developed economies had largely failed to honour their commitments to provide substantial financial support for climate actions in developing economies.

One of the issues South Africa will be highlighting at COP27 is that multilateral financial institutions need to lower the cost for developing economies to borrow money to fund their climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.

“We go to COP27 in a strong position,” Ramaphosa said.

The country recently adopted a Just Transition Framework to guide national approach to this process.

Last week, government released the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan for public comment.

Ramaphosa believes many people might think that the discussions taking place in Egypt at COP27 are far-removed from their everyday lives.

“This is far from the cas,” Ramaphosa said.

He reminded South Africans that the deadly floods in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West this year as well as wildfires in the Table Mountain range, the locust plague outbreak in parts of the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, were all associated with climate change.

– CAJ News

 

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