In a joint statement, Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group said their survival depends on urgent and ambitious climate action.
New Delhi: Hours after US President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as "the greatest con job ever", several groups of countries on Wednesday said that the urgency of international cooperation has never been greater and warned that ignoring science risks "irreversible catastrophe."
The High Ambition Coalition (HAC), representing a group of countries pushing for stronger action, said that global emissions must peak now and rapidly decline to net zero by 2050 if "we are to have a fighting chance to avoid the worst."
"As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement and the creation of the High Ambition Coalition, the urgency of international climate action has never been greater. Climate change is being felt worldwide. People, particularly those already vulnerable, are experiencing devastating loss and damage," the group said in a statement at the UNGA in New York.
The HAC reminded the governments scientists' warning that we are reaching limits on our ability to adapt to climate change.
"As we approach the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, we face tipping points that threaten to throw our planet into an even greater and irreversible catastrophe," read the statement signed by energy, climate and foreign ministers of 14 countries, including Germany and the UK, and the European Commission.
Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly, by contrast, doubled down on his rejection of climate science, attacked the United Nations, criticised European green policies, and defended fossil fuel dependency.
"It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion... All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their country's fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success," Trump said.
His administration has over the past few months withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement again, rolled back power plant pollution limits and vehicle emission standards, and moved against offshore wind projects, steps that experts say weaken the global fight against climate change.
The coalition pointed out that progress under the Paris Agreement has already helped avoid a four-degree world, spurring renewable energy growth and cheaper clean technologies.
But it cautioned that "much more must be done to meet our promises" and called on countries to submit 1.5 degree Celsius-aligned national climate plans at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, in November.
In a joint statement, Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group said their survival depends on urgent and ambitious climate action.
"For us, 1.5 degrees Celsius is not a negotiating position, it is a red line. Overshooting this threshold would mean irreversible losses and damage for our nations, and it would represent not the failure of the Paris Agreement, but the failure of political will," they said.
AOSIS represents 39 small island and low-lying coastal developing states in international climate change negotiations, while the LDC Group consists of 44 nations spanning Africa, the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean, representing over one billion people.
The groups urged countries to submit updated 2030 climate targets that fully align with the 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway.
They said COP30 must deliver a credible plan to close the ambition gap, respond to the Global Stocktake and set the world firmly on course to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, warning that anything less would betray vulnerable nations.
At the Climate Summit convened by Guterres on the sidelines of the UNGA meetings, countries have been invited to present their updated national climate action plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The plans detail how nations intend to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the global goal of keeping temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees.
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Under the Paris Agreement, NDCs are revised every five years.
The High Ambition Coalition (HAC), representing a group of countries pushing for stronger action, said that global emissions must peak now and rapidly decline to net zero by 2050 if "we are to have a fighting chance to avoid the worst."
"As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement and the creation of the High Ambition Coalition, the urgency of international climate action has never been greater. Climate change is being felt worldwide. People, particularly those already vulnerable, are experiencing devastating loss and damage," the group said in a statement at the UNGA in New York.
The HAC reminded the governments scientists' warning that we are reaching limits on our ability to adapt to climate change.
"As we approach the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, we face tipping points that threaten to throw our planet into an even greater and irreversible catastrophe," read the statement signed by energy, climate and foreign ministers of 14 countries, including Germany and the UK, and the European Commission.
Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly, by contrast, doubled down on his rejection of climate science, attacked the United Nations, criticised European green policies, and defended fossil fuel dependency.
"It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion... All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their country's fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success," Trump said.
His administration has over the past few months withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement again, rolled back power plant pollution limits and vehicle emission standards, and moved against offshore wind projects, steps that experts say weaken the global fight against climate change.
The coalition pointed out that progress under the Paris Agreement has already helped avoid a four-degree world, spurring renewable energy growth and cheaper clean technologies.
But it cautioned that "much more must be done to meet our promises" and called on countries to submit 1.5 degree Celsius-aligned national climate plans at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, in November.
In a joint statement, Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group said their survival depends on urgent and ambitious climate action.
"For us, 1.5 degrees Celsius is not a negotiating position, it is a red line. Overshooting this threshold would mean irreversible losses and damage for our nations, and it would represent not the failure of the Paris Agreement, but the failure of political will," they said.
AOSIS represents 39 small island and low-lying coastal developing states in international climate change negotiations, while the LDC Group consists of 44 nations spanning Africa, the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean, representing over one billion people.
The groups urged countries to submit updated 2030 climate targets that fully align with the 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway.
They said COP30 must deliver a credible plan to close the ambition gap, respond to the Global Stocktake and set the world firmly on course to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, warning that anything less would betray vulnerable nations.
At the Climate Summit convened by Guterres on the sidelines of the UNGA meetings, countries have been invited to present their updated national climate action plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The plans detail how nations intend to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the global goal of keeping temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees.
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