With six weeks to go until COP26, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama joined a top-level roundtable convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to secure breakthrough climate commitments from high-emitting countries.
The closed-door meeting, held on the margins of the 76th General Assembly, included leaders from a few dozen countries, including the largest emitters of Russia, China, India, the USA, and Japan.
The meeting was held days after a new UN analysis of country pledges under the Paris Accords showed that current national pledges put the planet on track for warming of 2.7 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial age by 2100. Prime Minister Bainimarama -- and other SIDS leaders -- have repeatedly warned that current climate commitments put the planet on course for catastrophe.
"With six weeks to go until Glasgow, this 76th UN General Assembly is the world's last best hope to win success at COP26. The science tells us the world's largest emitters are not doing enough to slash emissions or fill the deepening void in finance to help vulnerable nations build resilience. Fiji is proud to stand with UN and with future generations in demanding that all nations --particularly the largest emitters -- follow our lead by committing to drastic cuts in emissions by 2030 that set us towards net-zero emissions sooner than 2050,” said Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dr Satyendra Prasad.