CVF GPG bilateral meeting with Members of US Congress and Speaker Nancy Pelosi

A Delegation of the Climate Vulnerable Forum Global Parliamentary Group (CVF GPG), led by its Chairperson, Honourable Dr Emmanuel Marfo, met with the delegation from the US Congress led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the sidelines of the 27th Conference of the Parties in Sharm El Sheikh. 

10 November 2022, Sharm El Sheikh: Honourable Marfo, member of the Parliament of Ghana and Chairperson of the CVF GPG introduced the CVF GPG and highlighted some of the initiatives and program of activities including the ongoing quest to build momentum on clean and reliable energy for all. He encouraged the support of the US Congress in the development of regulatory frameworks that encourage and incentivize investment into renewables.

He further iterated that the CVF GPG is keen to strengthen its capacity for decision-makers on disaster risk reduction, to realign parliamentary committees to address the cross-cutting nature of disaster risk reduction, the tightening of weak legislation to make corporations accountable for failure to invest in renewable energy over fossil fuels and for corporations that under report when it comes to sustainable financial reports.

He highlighted that the CVF member states, including Ghana, have embarked on the development of Climate Prosperity Plans and he urged the US Congress to engage in this important initiative to ensure that CPPs permeate the legislative functions of oversight, budget making, law making, and representation. He further called on the US Congress to look at avenues to mobilize funding for countries vulnerable to climate change through innovative financing mechanisms.

Hon Saber Hossain Chowdhury, the member of the Parliament of Bangladesh, thanked the US Congress for their continued solidarity and support of the CVF and particularly that of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He emphasized that climate change is an existential crisis that affects all of us and called on legislators to take more of an active role in bringing this to light, drawing an example from the Bangladesh declaration of a planetary emergency.

He emphasized that many reports highlight the gaps in finance, technology, mitigation, and adaptation, however, the most significant gap is the trust gap that exists between developed and developing countries, signifying that the two groups should work on closing that gap. He further highlighted the CVF GPGs accountability summit and encouraged the US Congress to support that initiative as accountability is a core function of any legislature underscoring the need to hold the executive to account. 

Speaker Pelosi emphasized the need for Americans across the public and private sectors to support the world’s most vulnerable nations to power their clean future.

The meeting further stressed the importance of the unified voices that the CVF GPG represents which gives further impetus to the concerns of those countries most vulnerable to climate change and stresses the importance of diversity and inclusion.