Former UK cabinet minister Alok Sharma has said countries need to state explicitly how they planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the 1.5°C objective.
Sharma applauded countries that have submitted updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and urged countries that have not yet submitted new national plans on emissions to do so as soon as possible.
Uganda is one of the countries that have been credited for submitting revised NDCs to the UNFCCC.
NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of its long-term goals. They embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The former Uk cabinet minister also cautioned country delegates to the COP27 summit in Egypt that no backsliding on these NDCs can be accepted if the world wants to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"At Cop26, we agreed to pursue efforts to restrict the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. I've always said that what we agreed on in Glasgow and Paris must serve as the foundation of our aspirations. We must uphold our end of the bargain. "We cannot accept any relapse," Sharma said.
Sharma also called for a faster phasing-out of coal and of fossil fuel subsidies, and for technical issues in the Cop work programme to be resolved.
COP27 takes place at a time when many countries throughout the world are experiencing severe consequences of climate change.
In Uganda, nearly 900 people were declared dead in July 2022 as a result of a food crisis that hit Karamoja following long drought linked to climate change.
