House Deputy Speaker and Antique lone District Rep. Loren Legarda has called on all nations to fulfill their obligations under the Paris agreement by submitting their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) before the year ends.
She made the call at the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Leaders’ Event hosted by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, who chairs the the 48-nation CVF, an international cooperation group of developing countries tackling global climate change.
“As policymakers, we can create an enabling environment for science-based policy planning and risk governance at national and sub-national levels. Let us challenge our counterparts in the executive to dramatically raise climate ambitions to our NDCs,” Legarda said during the recent launch of “Midnight Survival Deadline for the Climate”, an online event featuring world leaders and climate champions towards addressing the climate crisis.
"Let us support the establishment of the global carbon market framework, hard fought development gains and productivity will continue to be undermined or even reversed if the 1.5-degree global warming threshold of the Paris Agreement is breached,” she added.
This year, the CVF has named Legarda as its Ambassador for Parliaments.
The online event was also attended by President of Marshall Islands David Kabua; UN Secretary-General António Guterres; former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon; Al Gore; Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives; and Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat Patricia Espinosa.
Legarda, who sits as Commissioner of the Global Commission on Adaptation, challenged the CVF member-countries to "act collectively to raise the level of climate ambition at the global and the national scale” and moved for the inclusion of climate-resilient interventions in COVID-19 economic stimulus packages.
“I urge my fellow parliamentarians to echo our call in the Global Commission on Adaptation for world leaders to align COVID-19 responses with the long-term climate objectives of the agenda for sustainable development, the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction, and the Paris Agreement. Let us turn this recovery into a real opportunity to accelerate progress in seven areas namely; urban resilience; water resources management; social safety nets; food security; nature-based solutions; locally-led adaptation; and disaster reduction,” she said.
Legarda noted that under the Paris agreement, if countries fail to submit an updated NDC by the end of this year, they will not need to submit them for another five years.
"With the UN Environment Programme indicating that emissions need to fall by 7.6 percent each year between now and 2030 to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal within reach, missing the 2020 midnight deadline would imperil that goal and change the future of the present and future generations, calling into question the survival of the most vulnerable nations,” she said.