Ambassador Holland welcomes the opportunity for States to discuss
the impacts of climate change on the resilience and security of
the OSCE region.
"Thank you Chair.
We meet today not under the official auspices of the OSCE but as
a Chair's event due to the choices of one participating State.
We call again on all States to ensure that the full range
of mandated meetings across the OSCE's comprehensive concept of
security, are allowed to take place.
Though we welcome being able to convene like this to discuss the
importance of ensuring resilience across the OSCE region to a
changing climate, we must acknowledge the fact that Russia
continues its illegal invasion of Ukrainian sovereign territory
and Russian troops continue to occupy Ukrainian land. We
condemn in the strongest possible terms the latest wave of
Russian attacks on Ukraine over the weekend, which included
attacks on power generation, transmission and distribution
systems, increasing the suffering of Ukraine's civilian
population by cutting off electricity and heating to homes,
hospitals and schools. The United Kingdom is committed to a
sustainable peace in Ukraine and will continue to stand
resolutely with Ukraine and its people.
Chair,
Climate change is already hitting harder than expected – through
extreme heat, floods, wildfires and droughts. These impacts
are disrupting lives, livelihoods and economies, especially in
the most fragile and conflict-affected places. Vulnerable
communities who contributed least to this crisis are paying the
most.
Risks to growth, security, and wellbeing will increase in all
countries in all warming scenarios. Being ‘climate
resilient' means having the capacity to thrive in the face of
climate risks. Investment decisions taken today will
determine how well we cope tomorrow.
The UK Government is determined to put climate resilience at the
heart of our decision-making. We are helping to build
international climate resilience though our partnerships,
diplomacy, thought leadership, technical expertise and
ODA. Since 2011, the UK has supported over 110 million
people to cope with the effects of climate change and is one of
the largest funders of adaptation research globally. It
remains our ambition to deliver £11.6bn of International Climate
Finance between April 2021 and March 2026, including to triple
our adaptation finance from £500m in 2019 to £1.5 billion in
2025. We want to ensure climate resilience action is
inclusive, sustainable and delivers context specific solutions.
We champion locally led approaches and the meaningful
engagement and involvement of marginalised groups.
As the world's largest regional security organisation, the OSCE
has a unique role to play in strengthening our collective
resilience to a changing climate and the UK stands ready to
support those efforts."
