Enviro News Asia, Suva — The United Nations has called on governments to accelerate climate action ahead of the COP31 climate summit in November, warning that record-breaking heat, devastating floods and intensifying climate risks are increasing pressure on vulnerable communities, particularly Pacific island nations.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed delivered the message during pre-COP meetings in Tuvalu and Fiji, where government leaders and policymakers discussed priorities for the upcoming negotiations. She stressed that climate action must protect communities and ensure that future generations can continue living safely in their homelands.
Mohammed urged countries to maintain efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Although the world is approaching an overshoot of that threshold, she said governments must continue cutting emissions and work to make any overshoot as short and limited as possible before bringing temperatures back below the target.
She also called on countries to fulfil commitments made at the 2023 UN climate summit, COP28, including transitioning away from fossil fuels, tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling the rate of energy-efficiency improvements by 2030. Expanding access to clean electricity, she added, could strengthen energy security and reduce economies’ exposure to fossil-fuel price volatility caused by global conflicts.
Alongside emissions reductions, the UN highlighted the need to strengthen climate adaptation and disaster preparedness. Mohammed urged governments to expand early-warning systems so communities can receive timely alerts before cyclones, floods and other extreme weather events strike.
Early warnings must be supported by resilient infrastructure, reliable water supplies and healthy ecosystems, she said. These measures are particularly important for Pacific island communities facing rising sea levels, coastal erosion and increasingly severe flooding.
Climate finance was another key priority ahead of COP31. Mohammed called for accessible, predictable and equitable funding, with developed countries taking the lead in supporting developing nations. The Baku to Belém Roadmap aims to mobilise at least US$1.3 trillion annually in climate finance for developing countries by 2035.
She stressed that funding mechanisms must be straightforward enough for small island states, which often have limited administrative capacity, to access the resources needed for climate resilience and adaptation.
The UN’s message ahead of the November summit is that countries must strengthen existing commitments, speed up the transition to clean energy and provide vulnerable communities with the finance and protection needed to respond to the climate crisis. (*)
