“The world’s response to climate change has been too slow”-Ms Madeleine Diouf Sarr

The global response to growing climate impacts must
take centre stage at COP27

Least Developed Countries set out expectations for COP27

 Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt – “The global response to the now inevitable impacts of climate change must take centre stage at COP27” said Ms Madeleine Diouf Sarr, who represents some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change at the talks.

“The Paris Agreement gave hope to billions of people. In Sharm El-Sheikh, we cannot let those people down. We need to come out of Egypt with clear commitments that keep the 1.5-degree goal alive and for delivering the necessary funding to our countries to address the climate crisis”, said Ms Diouf Sarr, Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group.

On loss and damage, a key issue for these talks, she said, “The world’s response to climate change has been too slow, and we’re already seeing the consequences: droughts drying up livelihoods, floods washing away homes and hospitals. Lives are being lost. Climate change is causing irreversible loss and damage, and our people carry the greatest cost. At Sharm El-Sheikh we must secure funding arrangements to address loss and damage.”

On mitigation and in light of the most recent report on the current National Determined Contributions (NDCs), Ms. Diouf Sarr  highlighted that “current levels of so-called ambition are simply not ambitious enough. Deep emissions reductions within this decade are urgently needed to limit warming to 1.5°C. World leaders may come to Sharm El-Sheikh with grand statements, but these must be matched with real commitments that will put us on track to achieving our Paris targets.”

On adaptation, she said “climate change is here, we have to adapt to it. At home, communities are working hard to adapt to the changing climate. Whether it’s sandbags to stop flooding, switching to more drought-resistant crops, or putting houses on stilts – people are trying to adapt to the changes they’re facing. But we can’t keep up. There is a huge gap between what’s needed and what’s being done, and we need support to close that.

Last year, developed countries committed to double adaptation finance by 2025. At COP27 we need an indication of how this commitment will be delivered. COP27 must also provide assurance of specific funding for the implementation of the national adaptation plans that we have prepared.”

At COP27 deliberations will continue the new quantified climate finance goal. Ms. Diouf Sarr said “Scaled-up climate finance is critical to realizing the goals of the Paris Agreement. We expect the new climate finance goal to truly reflect the cost of addressing climate change and be based on the most recent scientific findings.”

“For the least developed countries, in particular, climate finance needs to come as grants, not loans. We can’t afford to be burdened with more debt – and we shouldn’t have to be – while addressing the climate crisis that our people are not responsible for.”

“The delay in the delivery of the $100 billion annual commitment has been disappointing. Climate finance must be scaled up to deliver on the decade old promise, and cover the shortfall from the last couple of years.”

Background information

COP27 is the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from 6 – 18 November 2022.

The Least Developed Countries Group is made up of 46 countries across Africa, the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean, with a joint population of over one billion people. Incredibly vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks, and disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, our countries negotiate together as a bloc at UN climate talks to advance our shared interest of a fair and ambitious global response to climate change.

Madeleine Diouf Sarr is the current Chair of the Least Developed Countries Group, and the Head of the Climate Change Division in Senegal’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

Ministers from the Least Developed Countries met in Dakar, Senegal in September to discuss key issues to be addressed at COP27. Download the Dakar LDC Ministerial Declaration on Climate Change 2022, available in French and English, for more information on the LDC Group’s priorities and positions.