Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has emphasized the need for accelerated action to meet global climate and development goals.
Addressing the opening of an international forum in Hanoi on partnerships for green growth, Mohammed highlighted the significant progress made over the past decade, while also acknowledging the substantial challenges that remain.
In her remarks to the Partnership for growth Summit, known by the shorthand ‘P4G’, which runs through Thursday in the Viet Nam capital, Ms. Mohammed reflected on the progress achieved since the adoption of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.
However, she stressed the stark reality that the world is still far from where it needs to be.
“As I speak, there are 750 million people who do not have access to electricity, and two billion people have no clean cooking solutions,” she stated. She also pointed out the increasing air pollution affecting children worldwide due to fossil fuel emissions.
Despite the daunting statistics, the UN deputy chief expressed hope, drawing inspiration from the words of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh: “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
She identified three sources of hope:
Global Commitment: The presence of representatives from governments, businesses, investors, and civil society at the summit demonstrated a collective commitment to building more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and prosperous societies;
Collaboration: Initiatives like the Just Energy Transition Partnerships and P4G’s public-private partnerships, which exemplify the power of collaboration in transforming energy, water, and food systems and;
Economic Imperatives: The economic benefits of climate action; every dollar invested in climate adaptation can generate a return of up to 10 times.
She also pointed out the significant cost reductions in wind, solar, and battery storage technologies, making them the cheapest sources of new electricity in many markets.
Ms. Mohammed underscored the financial impact of climate disasters, which caused $320 billion in damages worldwide last year.
She emphasized that the climate crisis is draining resources needed for development but also presented a compelling economic case for climate action.
“Renewables accounted for 92.5 per cent of all new power capacity added globally last year, and clean power surpassed 40 per cent of global electricity generation for the first time,” she noted.
Story was adapted from UN News.
