Bonn, Germany – Diplomats have just concluded the first round of climate talks in what could be the most important year for climate negotiations since the Paris Agreement in 2015.
The agenda has been huge and complex. Negotiators have had to grapple with the fundamental issues of a rulebook for the Agreement, the need for greater ambition in climate pledges and the finance and support required by many developing countries. With a huge agenda, it is not surprising that progress has been patchy, and an extra session of negotiations has been scheduled for Bangkok in September, before COP24 in Poland in December.
Li Shuo, senior global policy advisor at Greenpeace East Asia, said:
“The Paris Agreement cannot be a one-off achievement which is left like a trophy in a box to be admired but never acted on. The box needs to be unlocked, it needs to happen in 2018 and the key to that is trust. Trust has to be built at a ministerial level through exchanges on important issues such as differentiation and finance. In the months before Bangkok, ministers must engage to start a dynamic process that leads to a robust rulebook and much greater ambition.
“The architecture is there for ambition to be raised, the Talanoa Dialogue, which has led to a real spirit of cooperation, getting beyond the finger-pointing to remind everyone that we all share the same planet and we all need to do more to protect it. The mood created by Talanoa has to start delivering tangible results in the form of enhanced national targets, and we look forward to the EU and China taking an early lead on this.”
Anna Ogniewska of Greenpeace Poland said:
“The Polish government has the privilege and responsibility of hosting the most important COP since Paris. It has the chance to give the Paris Agreement wings. It can live up to this, or leave the Agreement to languish amid the coalfields of Katowice. The world will be watching.”
ENDS
Contacts:
Li Shuo, Senior Policy Advisor, Greenpeace East Asia, [email protected], +86 10 6554 6931
Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), [email protected]