The Paris Agreement exists not only to protect the most vulnerable but also to protect productivity, security, and general prosperity, Biman Chand Prasad, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Fiji, said at a high-level meeting during COP29, Report informs.
"The shift to protectionism, moving away from multilateralism, and transitioning to a world where everyone is for themselves is unacceptable. We need to raise the bar, secure the foundations of the Paris Agreement and the 1.5-degree target in the 2025 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and ensure a new collective quantitative goal (NCQG) based on factual data that recognizes the special needs of small island developing states and least developed countries," he said.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the new collective quantitative goal that parties want to agree upon in Baku is an indicator of whether there is commitment to achieving this 1.5-degree target.
"If here at COP29 we don't lay the financial foundations for the transition that our 2025 NDCs must ensure, the world will know that despite years of effort, we have lost our goal. Existing political disagreements and uncertainty have set back our leadership at a time when confidence and hope are needed more than ever," he said.
The reality is that 1.3 trillion pales in comparison to the 7 trillion spent annually on fossil fuel subsidies, he noted. "The money is there. It's just in completely the wrong place," he stated.