Constructing a safer climate – Patricia Espinosa at Bauhaus University

In her first address since the conclusion of the UN Climate Change Conference COP24 in Katowice last December, the UN’s top climate official Patricia Espinosa warned that whilst the meeting was a success, the world remained off course with regard to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and that all parts of society need to get far more engaged to prevent the worst climate impacts.

In Katowice, governments finalized the Paris Agreement Work Programme, which operationalizes the climate change regime contained in the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, global greenhouse gas emissions continued to grow last year, and the current concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the highest it has been in 3 million years.

Speaking at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar on the topic: “Diplomacy and Participation: Towards Sustainable Solutions in Climate Policy”, the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change called on non-State actors, including academia, to help governments achieve their climate goals.

“We know governments alone cannot address climate change. We need all segments of society to work as hard as possible to drive specific global climate action. This includes businesses, investors, private citizens, and, yes, academics, architects, designers and engineers—all parts of society,” she said.

Patricia Espinosa reminded the audience that UN Climate Change not only encourages the participation of non-State actors but actively brings them into the negotiating process.

She said that now that the Paris Agreement Work Programme is in place, the priority for 2019 needs to be to raise ambition to tackle climate change. This can happen at all levels of government and society, not least at the regional and local level:

Original source: UNFCCC
Published on 10 January 2019