Date: Monday, 30 October 2023

Session 1: Plenary Roundtable: Pathways to 2030

Guiding Questions
1. How can we ensure that the COP28 outcomes set the path for increasing ambition and enable all countries to overcome the implementation challenges they face at a national level to deliver a collective course correction by 2030 through pathways based on science and equity, which are compatible with the achievement of the Paris Agreement long – term goals?
2. How should the GST outcome reflect equity in ways that lead to increased climate ambitions and actions across all topics?


Thank you, Minister.

• At the outset let me thank the incoming COP28 Presidency for organizing the pre-COP in this great city of Abu Dhabi and, I thank you and your team for the warm hospitality shown to me and my delegation.
• I have the honor to speak on behalf of 39 island countries and low-lying nations that are urgently calling for high ambition and bold climate action as our very existence depends on this.
Excellencies and my dear colleagues,
• The science is clear. Yesterday’s predictions are indeed happening today. The latest findings of the IPCC report clearly articulate that we have a very narrow window of opportunity to save humankind from the global catastrophe.
• COP28 must be the turning point from talk to bold climate action. We must increase our ambition to find our way back to a pathway that is 100% aligned with the 1.5C target and in line with the Paris Agreement goals.
Excellencies and colleagues,
• Failing on ambition is not an option for small island developing States.
• As global citizens we must acknowledge the realities of the climate crisis we face today. Our communities are struggling to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. Our shores are eroding. Our oceans are losing their diversity. Our corals are losing their vibrancy and effectiveness. Our economies are far more fragile than they were yesterday.
• Loss and damages is now our reality. Practically we are running out of time and realistically, if we do not act, time will be up.
Excellencies and colleagues,
• We need tangible, strengthened signals from this COP that will spur a genuine transformational shift through the remainder of this decade. A transformation where our energy transition generates emissions reductions that keep us below 1.5C.
• This means agreeing to the peaking of global emissions by 2025, as a pre-requisite to then rapidly bending the curve to halve emissions by 2030. This paradigm must frame the outcomes in Dubai, if we are to keep the 1.5C goal within reach.
• COP28 must send a clear message to the world of a strengthened commitment to phase out fossil fuel use, end fossil fuel subsidies and scale up renewables. We can’t afford for COP28 decision language to imply the acceptance of fossil fuel expansion when we know from the latest IPCC and IEA reports that expansion can’t under any scenario be compatible with a 1.5C future.
Excellencies and colleagues,
• The GST outcomes must include transparency and accountability for follow-through actions in 2024, in 2025 and each year after. This will be essential to delivering accelerated change across all sectors of our economies. We can’t afford another year of apathy, as we have seen though the failure to respond meaningfully to the calls at COP26 and COP27 for strengthened targets in current NDCs.
• And critically, we need COP28 to unlock the barriers to action. SIDS and many other developing countries still face significant barriers related to accessing finance, the cost of capital, and the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce needed for a rapid energy transition. We expect COP28 to deliver a progressive and actionable support package that includes finance, technology transfer and capacity building, each of which is easily accessible to those that need it the most.

I thank you.