By Atoyebi Nike
As the September 30, 2025, deadline for updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) approaches, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group have called on governments to submit ambitious 2030 and 2035 targets aligned with the 1.5°C pathway.
Speaking after a joint virtual media session on September 23, the groups, representing nations most exposed to climate impacts, said survival depends on urgent action.
“Our uncompromising message is that the survival of our nations depends on urgent and ambitious climate action,” they declared, stressing that COP30 in Belém must deliver a credible plan to close the ambition gap and respond to the Global Stocktake.
Ambassador Ilana Seid, Chair of AOSIS, warned: “Every fraction of a degree matters. For our islands, exceeding 1.5°C is a point of no return.” LDC Chair Evans Njewa added: “For the Least Developed Countries, 1.5°C is a matter of survival, not of choice. The time for pledges has passed. We must intensify implementation.”
The groups also demanded stronger commitments on adaptation finance, loss and damage support, and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). They urged that adaptation finance be tripled by 2030 and that the Loss and Damage Fund become fully resourced and accessible.
Failure at COP30, they warned, would not only be a missed opportunity but “another round of betrayal of the most vulnerable.”
