UN General Assembly
2014

We must urgently address climate change in a legal and forward-looking manner. Otherwise, our post-2015 agenda will be meaningless and many will be left behind. We therefore urge all parties to work urgently to negotiate a new protocol, to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to keep the average temperature rise well below 1.5°C. The protocol must include loss and damage and insurance mechanisms for SIDS against climate change and must provide adequate and accessible financing for adaptation support to SIDS, such as Tuvalu. There is no time for half-measures, such as we witnessed in Copenhagen in 2009. It is also critical that the new Green Climate Fund and the other existing climate change funds be adequately resourced and that access by SIDS be simplified for expedient action on the ground. We all must step up and commit to reducing our emissions and to supporting those who are vulnerable. As for my own country, despite our negligible greenhouse gas emissions, we are committed to employing 100 per cent renewable energy for our electrification by the year 2020.