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President launches Climate Prosperity Plan aiming 26.53 billion USD
View(s):By Malaka Rodrigo
Sri Lanka has reiterated its call for climate compensation pointing out that his country is one of the worst affected by rising emissions from the industrialised world.
The call was made when President Ranil Wickremesinghe addressed the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) of the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) which started on November 6 in the Egyptian city of Sharm al-Sheikh with the participation of about 100 heads of state. 
Mr. Wickremesinghe’s address came as Sri Lanka launched its Climate Prosperity Plan (CPP), outlining its national investment strategy from the near to long-term (current decade to mid-century perspective) for climate-proofing the nation and in doing so to secure Sri Lanka’s pathway to prosperity in a climate-insecure world.
Sri Lanka’s Climate Prosperity Plan is anchored around three major goals focused on energy, finance, and resilience. This plan proposes several renewable energy projects, and adaptation programmes, and would cost at least USD 26.53 billion through 2030. The plan aims to secure a large portion of this funding from international sources.
During his speech, Mr. Wickremesinghe also tabled his proposal for setting up the world’s first-ever international university on Climate Change in Sri Lanka with an ancillary institution in the Maldives. “This seat of learning can be a trans-disciplinary global centre for green and blue studies – for scientists, environmentalists, researchers, policymakers, development practitioners, and students the world over offering both short-term courses and postgraduate academic awards to build capabilities for mitigating and adapting to climate change,” Mr. Wickremesinghe told.
Participating in the Round Table discussion on “Food Security”; Mr. Wickremesinghe proposed a global meeting of agriculture ministers to evaluate the food requirements over the next two years.
Reports indicate that food prices on a global level have increased to unprecedented levels due to several reasons ranging from the Ukraine war and agriculture failures. This global food security round noted that it is essential to finalise this plan by February 2023 and should be implemented by the end of the first quarter of 2023, if not the damage caused to the political and social structures of countries will be irreparable.
The President also highlighted the urgent need of compiling a medium-term plan to ensure global food security At COP28.
President Wickremesinghe said he hoped the climate prosperity agenda would build confidence with creditors and investors that our country is on the road to recovery, a clean and green recovery.
As expected, one of the main aims of Mr. Wickremesinghe’s visit to this global event also seems to be an attempt at seeking aid to bail out cash-strapped Sri Lanka’s economy. The president also took the opportunity to meet World Bank President David Malpass and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. President Ranil Wickremesinghe also met the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres.
Delivering the opening remarks of COP27 on November 6, the UN Secretary-General said, “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator as the emission of the greenhouse gases like Carbon dioxide keeps increasing.”
Climate Finance is expected to play an important role in the COP27 where parties are expected to review progress on the goal to channel US$100 billion a year to developing countries like Sri Lanka grappling with the climate crisis, a pledge that was made in 2009 at COP15 in Copenhagen. A new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) finds that the world will need more than US$300 billion a year by 2030 to deal with the effects of the climate crisis, which include droughts, rising seas, and more severe storms which Sri Lanka is pretty much vulnerable to.
Sri Lanka has enough plans and reports addressing various environmental issues, but we need to actually implement these to make them meaningful and else, all these would be meaningless, Hemantha Withanage, environmentalist of the Center of Environmental Justice (CEJ) told the Sunday Times. In keeping with the Paris Agreement, each signatory nation must submit its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Sri Lanka submitted its NDCs last year.
However, CEJ filed a petition against the government and then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa alleging that Sri Lanka did not take actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and even slashed some of the schemes such as encouraging roof-top solar power generation. The petition was recently taken up in the courts and the hearing is ongoing.
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