First Minister arrives in New York ahead of Climate Week NYC.
A call for bold, sustained action from international partners to deliver on climate pledges and support Global South nations hit hardest by climate change will be First Minister Humza Yousaf’s focus as he arrives in New York today (Sunday 17 September) for Climate Week NYC.
The First Minister Humza Yousaf has called on governments to accelerate financial support for countries most affected by climate-induced loss and damage, in a keynote speech during Climate Week NYC.
A total of £5 million has been awarded to the Climate Justice Resilience Fund who support vulnerable communities in the Global South who have experienced loss caused by climate change, with a specific focus on women and young people.
For communities across the world, new climate shocks often arrive before there is time to recover from the last – and the recent UN stocktake of global climate action emphasises that loss and damage risks are still growing.
FIRST MINISTER HUMZA YOUSAF
It’s clear that Scotland can play a significant role in calling for greater international action as an outward-looking nation which has already shown global leadership. At COP26, Scotland became the first country in the global north to pledge financial support to address that Loss and Damage. At COP27 we again led the way, committing another £5 million for the neglected area of non-economic loss and damage. We have made good on those promises but the need for urgent responses to climate shocks is only increasing
That is why I am also announcing a further £1 million programme to address loss and damage to be delivered through Scotland’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund. We have already put people at the heart of our international climate action, and will be calling on others to join us.
Scotland has demonstrated that we are prepared to walk the walk where many others, to this point, have merely talked the talk. Collective action is needed to tackle the climate emergency and address the devastating effects of climate change, in particular loss and damage.
Eleven years ago, we launched the world’s first dedicated Climate Justice Fund, which remains the only government-led climate justice fund in the world – something we’d like to help change.
Background
For security reasons, the First Minister’s full travel arrangements are not made public in advance, however details about Ministerial travel and engagements are proactively published online.
Any business flights taken by Scottish Government Ministers and employees are offset by a carbon levy. The levy is used to fund carbon reduction projects that compensate for the carbon emissions generated.
The First Minister Humza Yousaf gave a keynote speech on Monday 18 September during an event at the New York Climate Hub called ‘Financing the Green Economy, Financing Climate Justice’.
At COP26, the Scottish Government committed £2 million in financial support to communities to address loss and damage. During COP27, the Scottish Government pledged an additional £5 million of funding to tackle loss and damage. Today’s announcements mean that all of this money has now been allocated.
Non-economic loss and damage can include forced displacement and impacts on cultural heritage, human mobility and the lives and livelihoods of local communities.
