As the world is facing a dramatic increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events exacerbated by climate change, as well as an acceleration of biodiversity loss and environmental degradations, France and Vanuatu recognize the particular vulnerabilities of small island developing states to the challenges posed by the triple crisis.
France and Vanuatu call on all partners to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate and the Montreal-Kunming Global Framework on biodiversity, and to support the vision and objectives of the Paris Pact for People and the Planet: no country should have to choose between fighting against poverty and fighting against climate change. We call on all countries, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), International Financial Institutions (IFIs), philanthropies, the private sector and other stakeholders to dramatically scale up and mobilize further resources for vulnerable countries and communities.
As we look towards the UNFCCC’s COP28, and building ambition into the future on all areas of climate collaboration, our two countries welcome the offer made by Australia to host COP 31 in partnership with the Pacific Islands region.
Mitigation and Fossil Fuels
France and Vanuatu urge all parties and stakeholders to agree to implement science-based, transformative and ambitious course correcting action in response to the findings of the global stocktake, in a way that emphasizes urgent mitigation, in order to limit further loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including by accelerating the global energy transition away from fossil fuels and by peaking greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 at the latest and reduce them by 43% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.
France and Vanuatu reiterate that the first urgency to reduce the damage caused by climate change is to accelerate the phasing out of fossil fuels. They urge all partners to to phase out existing production and use of fossil fuels in a fair and equitable manner in line with the 1.5C global climate goal. They support the existing efforts to accompany those countries willing to
phase out fossil fuels through Just Energy Transition partnerships (JET-P). They call on all countries to join the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance (BOGA) to facilitate oil and gas production phase-out.
Finance and vulnerability
France and Vanuatu encourage a strong reform of the international financial architecture to take into account the vulnerabilities arising from climate change.
They call on all stakeholders to provide new, additional and scaled up public sector finance, as well as funding arrangements and flows from innovative sources identified in the Paris Pact for People and Planet, aiming at supporting vulnerable countries, including but not limited to: implementation of Climate-Resilient Debt Clauses; development of pre-arranged financing including through the G7-V20 Global Shield against Climate Risks; integration of climate vulnerability in debt sustainability assessments of the World Bank and the IMF and mainstreaming of vulnerability assessments by multilateral development banks; channeling Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for vulnerable countries; replenishing the Green Climate Fund and the International Fund for Agricultural Development; development of early warning systems including through the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative; and adequately capitalizing the new Loss & Damage Fund and Funding Arrangements, through public and private sources and innovative finance such as taxation.
France and Vanuatu call on all partners to implement innovative taxation schemes, including on some large greenhouse gas-emitting sectors and on financial transactions or plane tickets, and express their willingness to explore new avenues for international taxation targeted at activities that contribute most to climate change, as a way to provide significant additional resources for climate action.
They welcome the adoption of the revised Greenhouse Gas Strategy of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and call for the adoption in 2025 of a levy on the GHG emissions of this sector as part of a basket of measures to implement this strategy.
Building on the work of the V20 group of States, France and Vanuatu call for a better consideration of vulnerability at the international level, especially as a way to facilitate access to finance. France and Vanuatu invite multilateral development banks to develop a common definition of vulnerability and for all financiers to take into account a multidimensional understanding of vulnerability encompassing economic, environmental and social dimensions that more appropriately determine eligibility to concessional finance for the most vulnerable countries.
Regarding disaster response mechanisms, France and Vanuatu call for support to existing international cooperation initiatives, such as FRANZ, providing for exchange of information and trilateral coordination for the implementation of emergency humanitarian interventions in the event of natural disasters in the island States of the South Pacific. The most recent FRANZ operation in March 2023 enabled a quick response to two cyclones and an earthquake that hit Vanuatu.
Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent
France and Vanuatu recall their support to the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and underline the urgent necessity of addressing climate change impacts including those resulting from slow onset events like sea level rise, and extreme events like tropical cyclones for the safe and resilient future existence of Pacific Island countries.
Loss and damage
France and Vanuatu support the work of the Transitional Committee of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and urges them to speed up their work to develop concrete recommendations to operationalize, at COP28, Loss and Damage funding arrangements, including a Fund, to assist developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in responding to loss and damage, and to address priority gaps within the existing architecture, inside and outside of UNFCC.
France and Vanuatu welcome the United Nations General Assembly’s Resolution, adopted by consensus, on 29 March 2023, requesting an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice on the obligations of States in respect of climate change, and encourage all States and intergovernmental organizations to make submissions to the Court by the deadline of 20 October 2023.
Biodiversity/oceans
France and Vanuatu urge all countries and stakeholders to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and in particular its objective to conserve and manage at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and of coastal and marine areas by 2030, and to promote multi-donor programs such as KIWA initiative and leverage nature-based solutions to coherently address biodiversity loss, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and land and ecosystems degradation and development.
France and Vanuatu call on all countries and stakeholders to promote the conservation and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems, considering their role in addressing and tackling climate change, by establishing coherent and representative network of marine protected areas, rebuilding overfished stock, eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, reducing chemical and noise pollution, reducing by-catch and subsidies harmful to biodiversity, and encouraging ecosystem-based management of human activities.
France and Vanuatu urge countries to make progress as soon as possible toward the signature, ratification and entry into force of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty. They will work together and with other countries to identify potential marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean.
France and Vanuatu place the highest priority on the protection of marine biodiversity, particularly concerning the deep seabed, on which they support a ban on all exploitation and call for urgent action in this regard within the International Seabed Authority, before the UN Conference on Oceans in Nice.
France and Vanuatu will cooperate closely on the conception of the next United Nations Ocean Conference, to be co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, in France, in June 2025, in order to highlight the role of small islands developing States and their irreplaceable ecosystems in providing ecosystem services and in responding to the triple global crisis.
Plastic
France and Vanuatu call for the establishment of an ambitious and effective international legally binding instrument, pursuant to the UN Environment Assembly resolution 5/14, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics, with a view to end plastic pollution by 2040 to protect human health and the environment from plastic pollution while contributing to the restoration of biodiversity and curbing climate change. France and Vanuatu call on all countries and stakeholders to take immediate actions to reduce plastic pollution by taking appropriate actions throughout the lifecycle of plastics including by preventing and eliminating discharges of plastic litter and microplastics to the oceans, and by eliminating problematic plastics such as single-use plastics.
