Message of Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda during the CVF Asia Regional Dialogue 2021

CVF Asia Regional Dialogue 2021

Ministerial Meeting

September 29, 2021

Friends and colleagues at the Climate Vulnerable Forum:

The reports of the past months tell us that we may not be doing enough to save our planet and our future.

Global warming might breach past the 1.5 survival threshold by 2040, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Our NDCs lead to a 2.7-degree world, according to the UN. July this year was also said to be the hottest month ever recorded, with 2021 most likely to be among the hottest years on record.

It will be the apathy and inactions of those most able and responsible that will lead us to ruin. But it will also be our inability to influence leaders and the rest of the world that will undermine our future.

Let us not forget that it is the CVF that successfully fought for the 1.5 degrees. Not feasible, or too ideal, they said. But it is the 1.5 that is deemed the most advantageous and best climate pathway by the global scientific community, now with tremendous support from climate advocates around the world.

In this Ministerial Meeting, we have to believe in our voice and leadership to drive up climate ambition and action. As COP26 draws near, we have to be clear and firm about our priorities. We need to set expectations and demand accountability, and just like what we did for the 1.5, we need to fight tooth and nail for all of them.

We have to make up for lost time and promises. The whole world, most especially the youth, are looking up to us for answers and the assurance that everything will be better.

These are the most crucial moments in our climate movement. And we have to be better and stronger—united in our call for the 1.5.

Thank you very much.