#COP29 FIJI NATIONAL STATEMENT BY DPM HON. BIMAN PRASAD

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Bula Vinaka and Namaste
 
The Paris Agreement stands not only to protect the most vulnerable but also to protect productivity, security, and shared prosperity.
 
Without it – without solidarity – a much more difficult transition is required. The transition to protectionism, the transition away from multilateralism and the transition to an every man and woman for his or herself world.
 
Let me be clear –we need to raise the bar - lock in the basis for Paris and 1.5-degree aligned 2025 NDCs and secure an NCQG which is evidence-based and recognises the specific needs of SIDS and LDCs.
 
Keeping global average temperature rise below 1.5 degree Celsius is not a loose policy slogan. It is not open to subjective interpretation. It is the science of survival, and it is the core of the multilateral effort we represent here.
 
With this in mind, the centrality of 1.5c degree target is unavoidable. The new collective quantified goal we must set here in Baku is a proxy for understanding whether the requisite commitment to achieving this target exists.
 
If, here at COP29 we do not put in place the financial fundamentals for the transition that our 2025 NDCs must enable, the world will know unequivocally that despite years of effort  we have lost sight of the horizon.
 
The public will know that the current political storms and uncertain waters have beaten back our leadership at a time where reassurance and hope is needed more than ever. We cannot allow that.
 
The World needs 1.3 trillion to deliver 1.5 degrees. The alternative is the burden of tens of trillions in loss, damage, and costs over the next decade in and an unstable and dangerous plus 3-degree world.
 
The beauty here is the better scenario comes at a tenth of the cost.
 
The reality of the situation is that 1.3 trillion pales in the face of the 7 trillion spent annually on fossil fuel subsidies – the money is there – it’s just in exactly the wrong place.
 
I hope leaders have the ability to spot a bargain, to understand a win-win when presented with it, and to recognise that the social, economic, environmental, and political costs of perpetuating fossil fuels far exceed the benefits.
 
Excellencies – as a minister of finance myself, I have no appetite for bad maths, no intent to accept creative accounting.  Excellences – we must deliver stability and deliver it now.
 
The cost of carbon eclipses any semblance of credible economic rationale for keeping fossil fuels in play.
 
Excellencies, all of our names and flags are on the record, and this record will not be forgotten – it will instead be analysed word for word by future generations whose reality you are determining and shaping today.
 
I thank you.