The 2023 Fair Shares Deficit: A Civil Society Equity Review of the NDCs and 2035 Mitigation Fair Shares.
Creators: name: Civil Society Equity Review
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 440805
subject: Environmental politics

description: This report is the eigth instalment of annual reports by the Civil Society Equity Review assessing the ambition and fairness of the climate action pledges (NDCs) that countries have put forward in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).This report re-evaluates the existing NDCs, including how a selection of countries’ current NDCs (since some have been updated since our last major update) stack up against their fair share. Our fair share calculations are then also extended to 2035, giving fair-shares targets to consider as countries begin the process of developing the next round of NDCs.Unfortunately, while the pledged ambition has increased in some NDCs since 2015, collectively, they have not yet come close to putting the world on track for meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, nor do any developed or rich countries’ NDCs contain targets that come close to their fair share. This has profound implications for the planet, since rich countries (with considerable historical responsibility and capacity) are responsible for the bulk of the climate action needed. This and the failure to deliver meaningful climate finance at the scale needed has led both to a worsening crisis and deepening of the inequity of the crisis. Continued support for the fossil fuels industry and a threatening dash for dangerous distractions, like carbon offsets, geoengineering and other risky technologies, has led to further delays in meaningful action to reduce emissions at source. As the climate crisis worsens, there has been and likely will continue to be pressure to abandon principles of justice in the name of expediency. The social movements, environmental and development NGOs, trade unions, faith and other civil society groups that have come together to present this report, representing a wide spectrum of organizations, reject this pressure. Climate change is a true crisis that demands an emergency response. Equity matters in this response, not only because it is a good in itself, but also because equity is the key to cooperation – and cooperation is indispensable in addressing the climate crisis. Climate change is the most profound “commons problem” humanity has ever faced, and it can only be managed with durable and robust cooperation. The Civil Society Equity Review coalition came together in 2015 before COP21 in Paris, a key political moment, to make a strong collective statement about the imperative for countries to pledge doing their fair share to reduce global emissions. Now, we have arrived at another key political moment. The GST at COP 28 should be a clear turning point in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the response to the climate crisis. This GST and the NDCs coming in the next few years are among the last intervention points to have any chance of keeping 1.5 °C on the table. Our coalition is coming together again to call for countries to commit to a fair-share NDCs by 2025, NDCs which, for the wealthy countries, must include the provision of climate finance and, for fossil fuel extracting nations, must include plans to equitably and rapidly phase out fossil fuel extraction. These are the key pieces of the equity-based strategy for stabilizing the climate and preserving a world in which human civilization can thrive.