Canada and the World Wait While Global Climate Agreement is Finalized

PRESS RELEASE 
For immediate release

PARIS – The world is on standby in Paris as Laurent Fabius, President of the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN climate convention, prepares the final draft of the latest international agreement on climate change.

President Fabius will table the final document on Saturday morning. With luck, the draft agreement will be strong and parties will accept that document Saturday afternoon.

Members of Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat Canada have been following the negotiations closely and observe that the latest draft agreement outlines a structure that could knit 196 countries together and facilitate ongoing collaboration on climate change action.

This is particularly critical for vulnerable countries and communities that are in immediate need of support to survive the impacts of climate change and cannot wait decades for their needs to be addressed.

How strong the final deal is will depend on whether that structure is maintained and strengthened by the next draft. A successful agreement must have essential elements which, if left out, could prohibit them from being introduced at a later date. An agreement that contains the essential elements – even if they are articulated in language weaker than previously hoped – leaves the door open to future dialogue and strengthening.

CAN-Rac Canada will be looking for critical details in key parts of the agreement to assess whether the work done over the past two weeks will protect the world’s most vulnerable and put us on a correction course away from catastrophic climate change.

More specifically, CAN-Rac Canada will be looking for details that commit parties to:

• work to limit the global average temperature increase to below 1.5°C
•  make the transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050
• conduct a pre-2020 review and adjustment of domestic emission reduction targets and plans
• review and adjust domestic emission reduction targets and plans every five years after 2020
• increase financial support beyond the already promised (but not fully committed) $100 billion per year after 2020
• commit to a process to determine how to help vulnerable countries deal with the permanent impacts of climate change.

CAN-Rac Canada would also like to see the Human Rights, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Just Transition section moved from the preamble into the body of the agreement.

-30-

CAN-Rac Canada will be reviewing the text when it is released and will be issuing a statement soon afterwards.

For more information please contact:
Catherine Abreu, Ecology Action Centre,  +33 7 88 66 59
Patrick Bonin, Greenpeace Canada, +33 (0) 6 77 70 37 60
Kiki Wood, Canadian Youth Delegation, +1 902 489 3925