17 October 2018: Ministers and other high-level representatives from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Group issued a communiqué outlining LDCs’ priorities for the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the UNFCCC, which is expected to adopt the implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The ministerial communiqué on climate change was released at the end of a meeting, which convened from 15-16 October 2018, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting enabled the 47 LDCs to identify their priorities and articulate a common platform in advance of the Katowice Climate Change Conference.

In the communiqué, LDC ministers, inter alia, emphasize the need for the rapid deployment of climate solutions, such as scaling up renewable energy, eradicating energy waste, managing the rapid decline of fossil fuels, and protecting and expanding forests, soils and natural systems. They stress the need to address climate impacts on agriculture, noting the vulnerability of the sector as well as its importance in improving food security, ending hunger, and protecting and enhancing livelihoods in LDCs.

LDCs call on Parties to use the political momentum created by the SR15 and Talanoa Dialogue to ramp up ambition in the next round of NDCs.

The Group calls on Parties to agree on a political declaration and a COP decision on the Talanoa Dialogue at COP 24 that “sends a strong political message” to strengthen the global response to climate change. Ministers urge Parties to use the political momentum created by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC (SR15) and the Talanoa Dialogue to ramp up ambition and reflect it in the next round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by 2020.

Ministers further:

• emphasize the need for the implementation guidelines to address adaptation and loss and damage at the same level as mitigation;
• urge developed countries and international partners to support LDCs in implementing their NDCs and with their adaptation planning processes;
• call for urgent contributions to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), noting it is under-resourced; and
• stresses the need for facilitating access to climate finance by further streamlining and simplifying the application, approval and disbursement processes of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The LDCs coordinate through the LDC Group on Climate Change and work together at the intergovernmental negotiations under the UNFCCC. COP 24 will convene in Katowice, Poland, from 2-14 December 2018. [LDC Group Press Release] [Addis-Ababa LDC Ministerial Communiqué on Climate Change 2018] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on African Group’s Expectations for COP 24] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on EU Position on Climate Finance Ahead of COP 24] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on AOSIS Chair Urging Increased Focus on Loss and Damage]