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Island states reject pressure for two-degree climate target at Commonwealth Summit Published on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Email To Friend    Print Version ST GEORGE'S, Grenada -- Preparing for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) later this week in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the world’s island states have reaffirmed their demand that a new international climate agreement must be legally binding and sufficiently ambitious to limit global warming to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius (C). In a late change to the CHOGM agenda, Commonwealth and a number of other world leaders will convene in a special session on climate change on 27 November in an effort to agree a stand-alone statement on the issue on 28 November. This special session has garnered significant international attention, and is now seen by some as an important precursor to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December. In the face of significant pre-CHOGM political and diplomatic pressure from a handful of Commonwealth-member major emitters, Prime Minister Tillman Thomas of Grenada, in his role as Chair of the 43-member Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), confirmed that the island states’ 1.5C limit – now supported by more than 80 countries worldwide – is not up for negotiation. The world’s best climate scientists and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees have already warned that the 2C limit supported by the big emitters would render a number of island states completely uninhabitable. Serious adverse impacts are already being felt by island states at the current 0.8C of warming, including coastal erosion, flooding, coral bleaching and more frequent and intense extreme weather events. “I will not go to CHOGM to make compromises that we already know will jeopardize the livelihood, viability and survival of a number of our islands,” he said. “No state or group of states has the right to condemn another to the unprecedented tragedy of climate-driven statelessness.” Prime Minister Thomas also hit out ongoing efforts by a number of world leaders – including Prime Minister Rasmussen and President Obama – to water down the expectation that countries will conclude a new treaty at the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit, beginning on 7 December. “We do not understand the meaning of ‘politically binding’, said Prime Minister Thomas, responding to the weak potential deal outlined recently by the Danish Prime Minister. “Either we have a legally binding treaty, or we do not. The draft treaty texts have been on the table for more than six months, including one from the United States. There are no practical obstacles whatsoever. All that’s lacking is the political will.” Prime Minister Thomas welcomed recent news that at least 65 Heads of State would attend the Copenhagen Summit in December. “We have the science, we have the draft texts, and we will have the world’s ultimate decision makers in the room. In short, we have all the ingredients for success in Copenhagen”, said Thomas.   Reads : 720