RAMALLAH, Tuesday, December 15, 2020 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday afternoon delivered a speech at the Climate Ambition Summit 2020.
Speaking to the summit via the video-conference, President Abbas stressed that the State of Palestine remains committed to its obligations under the Paris Agreement.
“Despite living under the occupation and the burdens of the Covid-19 pandemic, we, the State of Palestine, bear our obligations following the Paris Agreement that we have joined and based on the principles of justice and fairness under international law that we have successfully exhibited during the Climate Change negotiations when we lead the Group of 77.”
He highlighted Palestine’s experience in transitioning towards regionalization and decentralization in the implementation of renewable energy projects.
“Due to the geopolitical restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation, Palestinian communities have become fragmented and separated from each other, which created decentralization by force. We learned how to work in the most challenging circumstances and how to turn crises into opportunities for growth. Our focus is on sustainable transition and the gradual acceleration towards regionalization and decentralization in implementing renewable energy projects in distant towns and villages to increase the resilience of our communities while reducing transmission costs as energy is generated and consumed locally. Our transition strategy is based on achieving environmental justice for our people throughout the expansion of low-carbon infrastructure investments such as solar energy as a means for economic recovery during these unprecedented times.”
“Although national central planning is often disrupted due to the ongoing conflict, we have leveraged the decentralized nature of renewable technologies for the benefit of the Palestinian local authorities to accelerate the transition towards decentralization within the national framework, to uplift their infrastructures such as establishing solar power plants on their lands, schools, and public buildings. The Palestinian model depends on accessibility and affordability to empower local authorities to enable and reinforce the multi-level governance towards the sustainable transition in partnership with the government, local authorities, researchers, the private sector and citizens.”
“What unites us is our humanity and our belief that together we can build a better world for us and future generations, and this is the essence of sustainability that we all must achieve.” He concluded.
K.F.
