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Environment ministers from more than 30 countries are attending a two-day virtual meeting - Petersberg Climate Dialogue - to discuss the roadmap for achieving the climate target.
Ministers would focus on overcoming the economic crisis unleashed by the novel coronavirus pandemic in an environment-friendly way. There is widespread fear that global emissions will soar as countries are providing large stimulus packages to re-start the economy.
"The world must work together, as it has to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, to support a green and resilient recovery, which leaves no one behind. At the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, we will come together to discuss how we can turn ambition into real action," said Alok Sharma, UK Secretary of State for Business and Energy.
It would be the first virtual meeting of delegates for the dialogue, on April 27 and 28, because of the travel ban in many parts of the world.
Governments are already under pressure from many sectors that are seeking relaxation from meeting their emission target because of the lockdown. Tourism and aviation industries, with a significant carbon footprint, are among the worst-affected industries.
Germany's Federal Environment Minister, Svenja Schulze, pointed out that the coronavirus pandemic does not allow us to pursue business-as-usual, and that includes our climate policy. "At the same time, this crisis underscores the importance of multilateral cooperation. A coordinated international approach remains essential in climate policy too," she said.
Apart from the post-pandemic green recovery, the contentious climate finance issue, which has been dragging on for years, is also likely to dominate the dialogue. During previous climate negotiations, developed economies promised to pay adaptation and mitigation funds to developing nations to help them deal with the impact of climate change.
The share of adaptation finance compared to mitigation finance fell from 18 to 16 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 compared to 2017, instead of increasing towards a 50/50 balance, said a statement released by Care, a climate advocacy organization.
"COVID-19 recovery measures provide large potential for jointly tackling the coronavirus and climate crises," said Sven Harmeling, Global Policy Lead Climate Change and Resilience, Care.
"The trillions of dollars mobilized in the next months must be spent in a way that protects the most vulnerable, builds resilience, and accelerates the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies," he added.
Rising greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuel are responsible for increasing global temperature that triggers a series of extreme weather events every year. From rising sea levels to devastating wildfires have affected a large number of countries, wreaking havoc on vulnerable communities.
G20 countries alone are responsible for 78 percent of the climate-damaging emissions.
Emissions need to be reduced by nearly 7.6 percent every year for the next decade to meet the Paris climate agreement goal to restrict the global temperature rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
A temperature increase beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius would have a catastrophic impact, warned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
(Cover: Luisa Neubauer of Fridays for Future movement lays out protest posters for climate protection in front the German parliament building the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany, April 24, 2020. /AP)
(CGTN)
