Cao Jing Yu
07 June 2022
The first committee session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Council (UNFCCC) kick-started with the countries sharing the common consensus on the essence of global collaboration in combating climate change.
Countries have unanimously called for international collaboration and mutual trust.
As the German delegation first asserted that all member states should contribute to seizing the worsening climate change situation in their opening speech, many countries such as Japan and the United Kingdom later echoed this sentiment.
One of the lesser developed nations, Kiribati is the most affected countries by climate change, notably its vulnerability to sea-level rise. Studies predicted that Kiribati would likely be the first victim to be swallowed up by rising sea levels because of climate change.
Kiribati pinned their hope on multinational support, as they feel incapacitated to battle climate change independently due to the lack of funds and their underdeveloped technology.
Meanwhile, the more developed countries want to push forward the construction of a green and sustainable economy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
The UK also recognized the significance of climate financing and fair share. The delegation of the UK also asserted that while the more financially developed countries should offer assistance to the less developed ones, they should not overlook the construction of a sustainable global economy.
USA supports this notion, adding that they should adopt more effort to make these structures more transparent and cost-effective.
Hypocrisy?
One delegate of the United Kingdom criticized the delegation of Canada for being "highly hypocritical".
The British delegate accused Canada of insisting on incentivizing other developed countries to provide financial support for the under-developed, while itself, as a relatively stronger nation, failed to shoulder its responsibility in combating the communal global climate crisis.
Based on the Climate Tracker Report on Canada, the countries' climate target, policies, and finance have been rated as “highly insufficient” by the CAT to address the recent climate crisis. It is also notable that Canada fails to meet its fair-share contributions to climate change, nor provides support to others.
Meanwhile, the delegate of the UK declared that they wholeheartedly concur with the view of supporting less developed countries, but only under the condition that the solution is “moderated and reasonable”.
"The great countries also have their problems," the United Kingdom mentions.
Despite the pyrotechnics between the UK and Canada, the UNFCCC council has come to an agreement table to resolve this global crisis. They eventually passed their agenda by the end of Committee Session 1.