UNEP chief urges G20 to stop delaying climate action, warns of growing cost of inaction

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AA) – G20 countries must be at the forefront of action on emissions reduction, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has said.

According to Inger Andersen, the longer these countries delay climate mitigation, the more costly it will be in both humanitarian and economic terms.

Andersen’s remarks came at the end of the first week of negotiations at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, running in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6 to 18.

Recalling UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ words on loss and damage, she stated that COP27 must provide a clear and time-bound roadmap for closing the finance gap for addressing loss and damage, which will be the central litmus test for success at COP27.

“When we look at how much the G20 countries have delayed climate action, especially those with a long historical carbon trail, and the fact that the G20 countries are responsible for 75% of all emissions, then clearly we need to see action on emissions reduction and on loss and damage,” Andersen said.

“The longer we delay climate mitigation, the more expensive it will be in terms of adaptation costs,” she added.

Although developed countries committed to providing $100 billion per year in 2019 to address the needs of developing countries by 2020, obtaining this money has been hard, she said.

Some progress on this has been made as countries are closer to committing $83 billion in 2022, but she warned that “the $100 billion is the floor, not the ceiling.”

“Progress on loss and damage is critical. We understand that the bill is being paid by the poorest, those who have contributed the least carbon,” she said.

According to UNEP’s latest report, the developing world needs as much as $340 billion a year by 2030 for adaptation to climate change.