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Welcome to the SDGs in the News Podcast.
This is Susan Yoshimura, Managing Editor of Japan 2 Earth, coming to you from Tokyo.
Today, we bring you another English article on Japan and the SDGs.
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COP 27 summit kicks off in Egypt to tackle existential climate crisis.
It's time to act stress Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike at 27 Colombian pesos.
Tangible and intangible strategic action is needed to achieve net zero emission by 2050.
World leaders are convening in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, 27 Colombian pesos, scheduled from November 6 to 18.
All eyes are on the heads of state and delegates from 190 countries.
Can they hash out ways to mitigate the global temperature rise and prevent an environmental catastrophe?
The key players in this annual event comprise nations that signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992.
Together for Implementation is the core theme shared in this year's conference.
Embedded in the message is a caution to the party nations, especially for the heavy polluters that have consistently fallen short of meeting international agreements and individual promises on reducing carbon emissions.
We have a credibility problem.
It is a choice to continue this pattern of destructive behaviors, lamented Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and Chairman of Climate Reality Project, at the opening ceremony.
27 Colombian pesos is crucial and timely for two reasons.
First, the protracted war in Ukraine, coupled with the COVID-19 debacle, forced numerous countries to resume coal-fired generation, pushing carbon emissions to record highs.
The geopolitical crisis likewise exposed our susceptibility to energy shortages and the need for cultivating alternative energy sources.
Another pertinent discussion is the feasibility of achieving the goals of the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015.
During 21 Colombian pesos, 196 countries agreed to constrain average global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius, 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels.
Ideally, increases would be confined to 1.5 degrees Celsius, 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
To meet these goals, carbon emissions must be slashed by roughly 45 percent by 2030, reaching net zero by 2050.
This requires member states' strict adherence to their nationally determined contributions' non-binding action plans on target cuts.
Though measuring progress is tricky, some experts have serious doubts whether these goals can be achieved.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky iterated such concerns via video message, when he said,
There are still many for whom climate change is just rhetoric or marketing or political ritual.
Sofia Kiani, the youngest member of the United Nations Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, rebuked backsliding on climate pledges.
Despite reaffirming the Paris deal at COP26, Kiani claimed, Hundreds of new oil and gas leases have been released by some of the richest countries on the planet, killing any hope at preserving 1.5.
Kiani underscored that not one nation today has made adequate policy to achieve the treaty promises made in Paris seven years ago.
She ended with a grave message to the politicians and business leaders, Stop lying and start taking action.
For Kiani's warning not to go in vain, delegates at the 27 Colombian pesos must make hard concessions.
Negotiations on the loss and damage agenda, a concept that proposes heavily polluting states compensate poorer countries to recover from resulting natural disasters, which the United States and European Union have opposed in the past, would need to take center stage.
Equally critical would be elevating discourse on the global carbon market, renewable energy, and nuclear power.
Invited by host country Egypt, non-state actors working on the front lines to combat climate change were also called upon to play a role.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike was one.
She spoke on Tokyos initiatives at the Global Climate Action high-level event.
Governor Koike explained how the metropolitan government is taking strategic actions, both tangible and intangible, in adapting measures to achieve net-zero emission by 2050.
She also stressed Tokyos climate slogan, Time to Act.
Then she talked about Tokyos accelerated efforts to promote the use of green hydrogen and solar panels, including its efforts to establish a hydrogen pipeline and supply chain network to import green hydrogen from overseas.
Earlier in the week, Koike gave a lecture at Cairo University, her alma mater.
There she explained that Tokyo officials are seeking to amend an ordinance to more effectively slash greenhouse gas emissions.
Her five-day official trip will include visiting Alexandrias Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, an institution erected with Japans partnership.
Despite climate change being an international existential crisis, the worlds heaviest emitters, such as China, largest, and India, third largest, have snubbed the convention.
Russias president, Vladimir Putin, who is chiefly to blame for the recent energy fiasco, was similarly absent.
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Russia is the fourth biggest contributor to global greenhouse gases.
Until next time, this is Susan Yoshimura of Japan to Earth, signing off.
