WGA/2/9
Sponsored by Ananya Antony, Riya Koranne, Shreya Hemanth of Ravenwood High School
The delegates above represented the Delegation of Tuvalu.
This legislation was filed in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural category
Presented as part of the MUN B 2023 conference
| 1 | To The General Assembly, |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Concerned by the overwhelming increase in atmospheric CO2 levels and their effects on the ocean |
| 4 | including rising sea levels, ocean temperature, loss of marine life and biodiversity, and changing |
| 5 | ocean currents and climate patterns; |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Acknowledging climate change’s immense negative impacts, such as increased storm intensity and |
| 8 | frequency of extreme weather events, salinization of freshwater, decreased food security, and |
| 9 | coastal erosion, which harm Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as Tuvalu and other |
| 10 | coastal countries; |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Disturbed when noticing that, according to the United Nations Development Programme, global |
| 13 | warming in environments like Tuvalu and similar Pacific islands will result in an uninhabitable |
| 14 | locale as early as 2050; |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Emphasizing the words of Tuvalu’s Prime Minister in 2021, which still hold substantial truth, |
| 17 | “Climate change represents the single greatest threat to the livelihoods of the people living on low- |
| 18 | lying, vulnerable countries”; |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Highlighting that, in Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, |
| 21 | everyone “has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself |
| 22 | and of his family”; |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Bringing attention to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which |
| 25 | explains in Principle 13 that businesses have a responsibility to apprehend individuals that |
| 26 | intentionally participate in activities that have adverse impacts on human rights as a whole; |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 12, Responsible |
| 29 | Consumption and Production, and Goal 13, Climate Action; |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Appreciating the UN’s ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change through the Paris Agreement and |
| 32 | Kyoto Protocol; |
| 33 | |
| 34 | Considering, however, that the IPCC of the UN released a report finding that based on countries’ |
| 35 | current Nationally Determined Contributions for the Paris Agreement, temperatures will rise a |
| 36 | catastrophic 2.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century; |
| 37 | Emphasizing that businesses, particularly multinational corporations, are responsible for a |
| 38 | significant majority of carbon dioxide emissions; |
| 39 | |
| 40 | Applauding the nonprofit Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for its efforts to promote the |
| 41 | transparency of companies that voluntarily disclose their carbon emissions; |
| 42 | |
| 43 | Positively affirming companies that have made commitments to reduce their emissions but |
| 44 | concerned by the lack of data made publicly available to determine whether such efforts are |
| 45 | greenwashing (companies marketing themselves as more environmentally-friendly than they truly |
| 46 | are) or sincere; |
| 47 | |
| 48 | The delegation of Tuvalu hereby: |
| 49 | |
| 50 | Urges the creation of a publicly available database to document the emissions produced by high- |
| 51 | revenue companies (who earn more than 24 billion USD in annual revenues), and multi- |
| 52 | continental companies (which own or control the production of goods and services in at least two |
| 53 | continents); |
| 54 | |
| 55 | Further requests that the aforementioned database includes information on companies’ stated |
| 56 | climate commitments and constant progress toward meeting their goals; |
| 57 | Declares that the database will be compiled and managed by the United Nations Framework |
| 58 | Convention on Climate Change; |
| 59 | |
| 60 | Determines that the creation of such a database will require minimal monetary support from the |
| 61 | UN; |
| 62 | |
| 63 | Encourages participating countries to enforce and assist in the regulation of these records; |
| 64 | |
| 65 | Suggests that countries consider the creation of a carbon tax (a price that emitters must pay for |
| 66 | each ton of greenhouse gas emissions they emit) that applies to companies that produce excessive |
| 67 | amounts of carbon emissions based on the aforementioned database; |
| 68 | |
| 69 | Supports countries that have implemented a carbon tax and reaffirms the benefits they will receive |
| 70 | from the implementation of a publicly available database, which would allow countries to better |
| 71 | gauge the carbon emissions of companies operating in their country; |
| 72 | |
| 73 | Declares that this database is able to benefit companies, for they may reference objective |
| 74 | assessments of their emissions and thus be rewarded for genuine climate action; |
| 75 | |
| 76 | Expresses its hope that all member states of the United Nations recognize the urgency of climate |
| 77 | change and take immediate steps to reduce carbon emissions. |
| 78 | |
| 79 |