Explanation of Position on a General Assembly Resolution on Cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community
Edward Heartney
U.S. Counselor for Economic and Social Affairs
New York, New York
September 1, 2023
AS DELIVERED
The United States has joined consensus on this resolution and welcomes cooperation between CARICOM and the UN to address the Caribbean’s most pressing challenges. This includes, as the resolution states, addressing COVID-19 and other public health challenges, public education, peace and security, and the need to urgently respond to the risks posed by climate change.
We were disappointed that some member states insisted on language in the resolution, which distorts the best available science, as reflected in the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and which downplays the need to urgently reduce global net greenhouse gas emissions 43 percent by 2030 from 2019 levels to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. These distortions are counterproductive, since the impacts of climate change are particularly dire for the members of CARICOM.
The United States is taking action to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad to avoid the most catastrophic impacts and to seize the opportunity that tackling climate change presents. This includes, for example, efforts to reduce U.S. emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030; build global resilience through the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience –PREPARE. This plan will help more than half a billion people in developing countries adapt to and manage the impacts of climate change; and scale up climate finance.
The United States looks forward to working with CARICOM and other partners, including the UN, to continue efforts to address the threat posed by climate change. To that end, in 2022 Vice President Harris launched the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis (PACC 2030), an umbrella initiative under which we are supporting the clean energy transition, improving access to development financing, promoting food security, and building human and technical capacity in the Caribbean to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Thank you.
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