SCO member states: Common but differentiated responsibilities in fighting climate change
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states said on Friday that they will join hands to fight climate change, while stressing the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) in implementing the Paris Agreement.
In a statement released Friday, the member states, including China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, said nearly half of the world’s population live in the SCO member countries, and for the common interest of them and the international community, the countries are determined to cooperate on addressing the challenges posed by climate change.
The member states believe that the Paris Agreement should be implemented on the basis of the principle of CBDR, while taking into account each country’s conditions and capabilities, according to the statement.
CBDR is a principle that was formalized in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which acknowledges that all states have shared obligation to address environmental destruction, but they are not equally responsible.
The principle highlights the need to recognize the wide differences in levels of economic development between countries, which in turn are linked to the countries’ contributions to, as well as their abilities to address these problems.
The Paris Agreement set out a goal to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In order to achieve the global target, the SCO member countries have taken forceful actions and submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of recovering the economy and improving people’s livelihood.
“We noted with great concern that developed countries listed in Annex II of the agreement have not fulfilled their climate finance commitments, including $100 billion per year by 2020,” the statement said.
The SCO member countries urged the developed countries to fulfill the aforementioned commitments as soon as possible before the COP27, the next round of UN climate change negotiations that will be held in Egypt in November 2022.
They also urged the developed countries to make greater contributions in climate fund after 2025, expand necessary support for developing countries in such areas as fund, technology development and transfer, so as to help them take actions to fight climate change while achieving sustainable development.