A promise is a promise. It sounds tautologous but it does emphasise to the listener that a hitherto unkept promise must be kept.
Resident Representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Alessandro Fracassetti listed several examples of kept promises to prove the skeptics and the naysayers of “pledges to implementation” wrong.
“In order to conserve coral reefs in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba, the Egypt and Jordan is working with USAID, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Fund,” Fracassetti said in an interview with The Egyptian Gazette.
“The UNDP is also party to the Green Sharm programme, as evidenced by solar panels in the convention centre and Sharm el-Sheikh airport,” Fracassetti added.
“The Green Climate Fund is taking part in schemes to make provision for rising seas levels on the Egypt’s Delta coast and prevent the salinisation of agricultural land.”
Fracasetti spoke of a “climate promise”, which he claimed is what the UNDP’s “largest offer in the world to governments regarding climate action”.
“And we’re working with 120 countries to enhance their national development and NDCs,” he said.
An NDC, or Nationally Determined Contribution, is a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Each party to the Paris Agreement is required to establish an NDC and update it every five years.
“The UNDP and our partners are promoting climate action in order to move from pledges to implementation,” Fracassetti said.
“It’s up to governments to change the situation urgently. The UN Secretary General said so,” he added.
“Now we have an opportunity to accelerate the transition towards renewable energies and keep the temperature of the planet to no more than 1.5C.
“COP27 has refocused global public opinion and governments on climate even though we have been distracted by other crises such as the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.”
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