Ambassador Kohona addressing the panel on Climate and Multilateralism at the 11th World Peace Forum, Tsinghua University, Beijing, highlighted the need for a reliable funding source to assist developing countries to transition from fossil fuel reliance to eco friendly renewable energy.
Addressing the need to rapidly transition to eco friendly RE, he said, "At this stage it may be prudent to review what has been broadly agreed on, what needs to be done and what remains to be done and why some things have not been done".
"We may have to get involved in a discussion on why human beings are reluctant to give up what they have achieved, the prosperity resulting from industrialisation. Industrialisation resulted in opening the doors to unbelievable creature comforts, especially in developed countries. Now we are talking about pruning down, perhaps even eliminating, some of those creature comforts. This observation aplies even to the late comers to prosperity. Some of whom are in our part of the world. This is where the problem lies".
He noted that, "We have the commitments from Paris and before. We need to invest heavily in alternative and reliable power sources. We know what needs to be done. We know more or less how to do it. Now we need the resources, the funding"
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Beijing
02 July 2023
