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.
Thank you.
