Climate change response an inevitable path of sustainable development: ambassador

NEW YORK — The implementation of climate change response and green energy transition is an inevitable path of sustainable development, Ambassador Đặng Hoàng Giang, Việt Nam’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told the UN Development Programme (UNDP)’s high-level dialogue on development priorities in the Asia-Pacific in 2023 held on February 16 (local time). From Việt Nam’s experience, the ambassador said that a strong commitment to climate change response should come from a long-term vision, through an approach that puts people at the centre and is also mastered by them, good governance, and strengthening international cooperation for financial mobilisation and technology transfer, capacity building and mitigation of climate change impacts, ensuring fairrness and justice. Kanni Wignaraja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific of the UNDP, appreciated Việt Nam’s consistent policy and commitment to climate change response in general and energy transition in particular. At the dialogue, delegates agreed that global challenges such as epidemics, conflicts, and economic, food and energy crises have negatively affected the implementation of the SDGs, economic recovery and climate change response in the region. They also exchanged views on challenges and measures to promote climate action and energy transition in the context of having to simultaneously respond to many urgent risks, towards achieving the SDGs.