President Heine Statement: CVF Leaders Event at COP25

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• Thank you Patrick.

• Thank you Secretary-General and Patricia for your engagement.

• Thank you Speaker Pelosi for joining us and for bringing with you this delegation from the US Congress.

• Your contribution and commitment to fighting climate change is truly remarkable.

• I would also like to thank my fellow CVF leaders: President Alvarado. And to Prime Minister Hasina: my congratulations for assuming the chair of this Forum in 2020.

• You asked about why next year was a “deadline for survival”.

• As you highlighted, emissions keep climbing up.

• We need them to go the other direction.

• Obviously, state commitments have not been enough. All countries need to do more.

• Under the Paris Agreement that all but one party is committed to, every five years there is a collective opportunity for us all to come with greater ambition.

• If we do not seize 2020 for that, then the next similar moment is 2025.

• We all know that waiting another half decade to do more means we lose 1.5.

• So my message to other leaders is this: the most vulnerable – atoll nations like my country – already face death row.

• Water covers much of our land at one or other point of the year as we fight rising tides.

• As we speak hundreds of people have evacuated their homes after large waves caused the Ocean to inundate parts of our capital, Majuro.

• It’s a fight to the death for anyone not prepared to flee. As a nation, we refuse to flee. But we also refuse to die.

• So not to come forward with a new, improved NDC – with a stronger national effort – by next year.

This is the same as a government deciding to pass sentence on our future.

To force our country to die.

• That’s an injustice if only because we know these governments can act.

We know it is not impossible as President Alvarado has shown.

It’s quite the opposite.

• It’s why climate change is a major human rights issue.

• Members of the CVF are calling for the creation of a dedicated Special Rapporteur on climate change.

• Because climate is the most serious human rights issue we have ever faced.

An issue on such a scale needs a truly dedicated focus.

• To generate more recognition.

More understanding.

More action – to protect people’s rights; younger generations.

• As vulnerable nations, we are prepared to allocate to such a Special Rapporteur $50,000 from a new CVF and V20 Trust Fund that I am pleased to announce the creation of today.

• This new CVF and V20 Fund will support us to work even more together.

To act as a driving force to secure our future – together.

• The Marshall Islands has pledged a contribution to this Fund as have other CVF members.

• I would also like to thank Chancellor Angela Merkel, and also Germany for pledging support for our new CVF-V20 Fund.

• Our V20 finance ministers’ group is very focused on overcoming finance challenges to climate action.

Driving innovation to unlock new projects in adaptation, resilience and renewable energy.

• So we invite all our partners to work with the V20 for an economy-wide transformation.

• The CVF has been in the lead with new ambition for 2020, striving for maximal resilience and 100% renewable energy.

• But we face limits to what we can achieve within our means.

• 2020 is also the deadline for $100 billion of annual climate assistance.

Let’s not forget this is a collective commitment of all the developed nations.

• Help us help each other to see us through this storm of storms.

• Our Chile COP hosts are right that the time for action has come.

Make Madrid count. For that, we should have a COP25 decision urging all parties to deliver a higher ambition NDC by next year.

• Before closing I also want to lend my and the CVF’s full support behind Prime Minister Rutte and the Netherlands’ initiative to host the first ever global summit on adaptation on 22 October.
• Secretary-General, colleagues, I am sure you will join and support this absolutely critical initiative. We are far off in mitigation efforts, yet as the planet already burns we are miles behind in adapting. This must change here.

• Thank you – kommol tata.