CVF reacts to IPCC report on climate impacts and adaptation

28 February 2022, DHAKA: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) today.  The IPCC Working Group II report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability confirms our worst fears: that the climate is changing at an increasingly rapid pace, that the risks from the climate crisis are projected to lead to irreversible impacts, and that the world needs to drastically reduce emissions to achieve the 1.5 degrees goal. The report confirms that those at the forefront of this global emergency – the most vulnerable nations and people – will be the first and most affected.

The following reactions are from the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Ambassadors in response to the IPCC’s AR6:

H.E. A.K. Abdul Momen, MP, Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh

“The IPCC’s new report is an urgent call for action to protect people and communities in every country from the climate crisis. The science is absolutely clear on how much damage and destruction is being caused to the earth, our societies and our economies. It is also painfully evident how the more vulnerable countries, despite not contributing to the problem, are by far the worst hit. Only in 2020, 15 million people were displaced by weather-related disasters in the 55 Climate Vulnerable Forum nations. As the IPCC report points out, far worse is expected if bold action is not taken with great urgency. As the countries most vulnerable to the challenges of climate change, we need immediate and sustainable support of the international community to address and overcome this crisis. We also call upon the major emitters to take emergency steps to stop pollution. The responsibility lies with them to ensure climate justice. In order to save this planet earth for our future generations, it is imperative to take actions now following the IPCC report.”

H.E. Saber Chowdhury, MP, Chair of the CVF Global Parliamentary Group, Chair of the Bangladesh National Parliamentary Committee for the Environment and Climate Change

“The IPCC’s latest report confirms our worst fears of a planetary emergency if we fail to keep warming below 1.5 degrees. It also pinpoints climate change as a central driver of the environmental collapse of our planet happening right now. This new scientific assessment reaffirms how climate disasters already tear apart lives in all regions and remains especially vicious for the poorest and most vulnerable. It also remains clear that we can turn this crisis around. Bangladesh’s and parliaments in vulnerable nations around the world are ready for action at home and eager to work more with G20 parliaments. We have budgetary and regulatory tools at our disposal to take action to adapt better and to keep emissions in line with 1.5ºC, and we can achieve more by working together.”

H.E. A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal, MP, V20 Chair, Hon. Minister of Finance of Bangladesh

“The IPCC report is a stark reminder that we have to take action to safeguard economies and communities from the climate crisis. The most vulnerable desperately need international support to make financial protection against climate risks more affordable and accessible.”

H.E. Abul Kalam Azad, Special Envoy of the CVF Presidency of Bangladesh

“With the new IPCC report, the world’s scientific community has confirmed with greater emphasis than ever before that climate change is trampling global justice. The poorest, most vulnerable, least equipped and inconsequentially responsible populations are feeling the full force of the fury of climate disasters more than anyone else. This fundamentally unjust situation is an affront to human dignity. The international community must take bold action this year to deal with the loss and damage harming most vulnerable communities around the world and strengthen support and finance for their adaptation efforts. Science clearly warns the major polluters to align their near-time emission targets with 1.5ºC or we will overshoot the target, forever committing the world to far more devastating consequences in decades ahead.”

H.E. Mohamed Nasheed, CVF Founding Chair, CVF Thematic Ambassador for Ambition, Speaker of the People’s Majlis and Former President of Maldives

“The IPCC report is clear that overshooting the 1.5 degrees Paris goal, even temporarily, would lead to irreversible impacts that together comprise outright global catastrophe – with stronger heatwaves, more intense droughts, more extreme floods and stronger cyclones, not to mention the wiping out of entire global ecosystems like coral reefs. Most worryingly of all, crossing the 1.5 rubicon may well be a point of no return because of positive feedback loops like thawing permafrost that cause even more heating. Even as we face other threats like war and conflict, the world must not lose sight of the need to act collectively to tackle a crisis that threatens our planetary home and the future of human civilization.”

 H.E. Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, CVF Thematic Ambassador for Renewable Energy, Chair of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA)

“The new IPCC report sends a clear message: we cannot continue to live on our planet without radical change. Climate disruption is already punishing the poorest, the most vulnerable and least responsible. But the future of everyone relies on renewable energy now more than ever before. We need an urgent and massive shift into renewables worldwide and the rich and major economies – especially the G7 and G20 – will need to invest far more to make this possible. Better access to electricity afforded by renewables for those hardest hit by climate change will also greatly strengthen their resilience against the types of climate disasters described in the latest IPCC report. The CVF has made a compact with the UN on achieving 100% renewable energy for the 55 nations most vulnerable to climate shocks and we call on the international community to help us to achieve our ambitions.”

H.E. Saima Wazed Hossain, CVF Thematic Ambassador for Vulnerability, Chairperson of the Bangladesh National Advisory Committee on Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Autism, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Autism in South-East Asia

“The new IPCC report confirms the latest view of science that our global crisis of the climate is now also fueling a global crisis in mental health. Its findings that weather disasters and climate shocks negatively affect mental health, wellbeing, life satisfaction, happiness, and cognitive performance should raise alarm bells given how seriously mental health and wellbeing have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Climate disruptions to safety, security, livelihoods, and the economy do also affect vulnerable groups most, as the IPCC yet again confirms. To see off this crisis, we urgently need greater global solidarity, support and investment in strengthening the already demonstrated resilience of the world’s most vulnerable people. Without mental health, resiliency and recovery is impossible to obtain.”

 ENDS