Eritrea: Statement By Foreign Minister Osman Saleh At Special High-Level Event On Climate Action

Eritrea like many nations on the frontlines, has been experiencing severe and escalating impacts of climate change. Increasing temperatures and erratic precipitation are driving disasters that undermine our economy and threaten the livelihoods of our people.

In the face of these challenges, the State of Eritrea is fully committed to a path of climate resilience and low-carbon development. As a testimony of this, we have prepared our ambitious third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which will be submitted prior to COP30.

In this regard our message today is focused on three pillars: ambition, clarity and partnership.

First, on ambition: Eritrea is putting forward a robust conditional target which represents its highest possible ambition. With our internal resources, we commit to an 8.6% reduction below business-as-usual. If international support is secured, Eritrea can do much more in achieving a 24.4% reduction by 2030. This will actually bend our emissions curve downward, bringing them below our 2018 levels.

Second, on clarity: We have a clear, investment-ready pipeline to get there. Our strategy is focused on two transformative pillars: a clean energy transformation and large-scale, nature-based solutions.

And third, on partnership: Achieving this highest ambition requires partnership. The total investment needed is approximately 1.3 billion USD. While we are investing significantly ourselves, we call on our development partners to support 63.4% of this total. This is not merely a request; it is an invitation to invest in high-impact projects that will deliver measurable results for the climate and for the most vulnerable.

Eritrea is ready to do its part within its internal capacity to deter the effects of Climate change in particular and environmental degradation at large. The Government of the state of Eritrea remains politically committed in mobilizing its financial and human resource. Having said that, we call upon the international community and specially most polluter countries to live up to their historical responsibility in doing what is required from them, by taking the lead in addressing ground breaking measures domestically and sharing the knowledge, skill and technology they acquired and mobilizing adequate financial resource that are reliable and accessible to who needs and when they need it most. Eritrea believes concerted effort can make a big difference.

Read the original article on Shabait.