The UN Climate talks have been put on hold. 

The Corona virus pandemic is a growing global concern that is affecting people, communities, countries, as well as various international processes and opportunities for multilateral cooperation. As the global spread of COVID-19 continues, there is an increasing need for the international community to confront COVID-19 while simultaneously tackling other time-bound global issues, such as climate change.

While the global climate talks are being delayed, poor and vulnerable people continue to depend on ambitious climate action, which has the potential to reduce the climate-related impacts threatening their lives and livelihoods.

“Despite the decision to postpone the climate talks, I urge all parties to make sure that a pause in the talks does not affect their commitment to increase ambition and to take climate action at the national level. The COVID-19 pandemic is re-emphasizing that for the sake of humanity, we cannot continue with business as usual,” says Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT’s General Secretary.

“The Corona virus outbreak must be tackled immediately, and so must the climate emergency that we are facing. Dealing with two emergencies is difficult, but it must be done, global warming is already happening, and ACT members around the world are already feeling its severe impacts,” says Patiriciah Roy Akullo of the ACT Uganda Forum and Co-chair of ACT’s working group on Climate Justice.

The UN climate talks are currently at a critical phase. The Madrid summit of 2019 (COP25) was a disappointment, with much of the work left to be completed at the anticipated Bonn session in June this year which has now been postponed to October 2020. The next critical moment in global climate change governance is the climate summit which was scheduled to take place in Glasgow in November this year (COP26), however, it has also been postponed. While the date of COP26 is yet to be announced, it is anticipated to take place in 2021 where parties will take stock and asses the national climate plans (NDCs) of countries which should be developed by all parties by 2020. Both the Bonn session and COP26, are now postponed.

“We should not forget that while the climate talks have been put on hold, climate change and its devastating impacts will continue. There is an urgent need for immediate action on climate change from all around the world,” concludes Akullo.

 

For media inquiries, please contact:

Mattias Söderberg, Co-chair of ACT’s working group on Climate Justice
+45 29 70 06 09, msd@dca.dk

Patiriciah Roy Akullo, Co-chair of ACT’s working group on Climate Justice
prak@dca.dk

The ACT Alliance is a global network of churches and church-based agencies that does humanitarian response, sustainable development, and advocacy work.  ACT is made up of over 135 members working in over 120 countries.

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