Statement on Stepping up Climate Ambition
The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C are a stark warning and serve as an urgent call to increase ambition and strengthen efforts to tackle climate change. At the same time the Special Report highlights that limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared with 2°C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being, making it easier to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In that light, we are determined to step up our ambition by 2020, consistent with the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, including through:
enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement as the primary tool for delivering mitigation ambition;
increased short term action;
long-term low emission development strategies
In doing so we will be informed by the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue, noting there are many options to raise ambition. In that context we welcome with appreciation the Talanoa Call for Action and thank the COP23 and COP24 Presidencies for their endeavours.
We recognize that we can only deliver enhanced ambition at the speed and scale necessary to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement if our efforts to do so are built on broad coalitions between governments and non-Party stakeholders.
We emphasize the need to strengthen our efforts to ensure an adequate response to the risks and impacts of climate change highlighted in the Special Report on 1.5°C. We acknowledge that all regions of the world are already experiencing devastating impacts at 1.0°C of global warming, and that the poorest and most vulnerable are being hit the hardest and are the least able to respond.
We also emphasize the importance of mobilizing additional support and investment for developing countries in order to facilitate enhanced ambition and implementation, aiming for a balance between adaptation and mitigation.
We commend the UN Secretary-General for his initiative to convene a Climate Summit in September 2019 and so provide the biggest political opportunity to drive an increase in global climate ambition by 2020. The summit must deliver a clear, strong and effective multilateral response to the Special Report on 1.5°C, including by countries stepping up climate ambition as set out above.
We call on other governments and non-Party stakeholders to join us in striving to step up ambition by 2020 in response to the Special Report on 1.5°C.
Supported by:
Government Secretary Rabbi Sergio Bergman (Argentina), Minster Elisabeth Köstinger (Austria), Ambassador Janine Felson (Belize), Minster Catherine McKenna (Canada), Minster Carolina Schmidt (Chile), Minster Ricardo Lozano (Colombia), Minster Carlos Manuel Rodriguez (Costa Rica), Minster Lars Chr. Lilleholt (Denmark), Gebru Jember Endalew (Chair of the Least Developed Countries Group, Ethiopia), Commissioner Migel Arias Cañete (European Union), Minster Inia Seruiratu (Fjii), Minster Kimmo Kalevi Tiilikainen (Finland), Minister Brune Poirson (France), Minister Lamin Dibba (The Gambia), Minister Svenja Schulze (Germany), Minster Simon Stiell (Grenada), Minster Gudmundur Ingi Gudbrandsson (Iceland), Minster Segio Costa (Italy), Minster Daryl Vaz, MP (Jamaica), Minster Carole Dieschbourg (Luxembourg), Deputy Minster Jani Makraduli (Republic of Macedonia), Minster David Paul (Republic of the Marshall Islands), Vice Minster Sergio Sánchez (México), Minster Andrew Yatilman (Federated States of Micronesia), Minster Gilles Tonelli (Principality of Monaco), Minster Eric Wiebes (Netherlands), Minster James Shaw (New Zealand), Minster Ola Elvestuen (Norway), Minster João Pedro Matos Fernandes (Portugal), Minster Vincent Biruta (Rwanda), Minster Gale Rigobert (Saint Lucia), Minster Mame Thierno Dueng (Senegal), Minster Jure Leben (Slovenia), Minster Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (Spain), Deputy Prime Minster Isabella Lövin (Sweden), Minster André Kouassi Ablom Johnson (Togo), Minster Claire Perry (United Kingdom)
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. (California), Elise Buckle (CAN International), Paul Simpson, CEO (CDP), Helen Clackson, CEO (The Climate Group), Dr. Imme Scholz (Deutsches Institute für Entwicklungspolitik), Gabriel Baracatt, Executive Director (Fundación Avina), Migel Ángel Muñoz Rodríguez (Iberdrola), Karol Gobczynski (IKEA Group), Manuel de Araujo, Mayor (Quelimane City Municipality, Mozambique), Daniel Rossellat, Mayor (Nyon, Switzerland), François Martel, Secretary General (Pacific Islands Development Forum), Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham (The Scottish Government), Sebastien Pellion, Director (SUEZ), Governor Jay Inslee (Washington), Nigel Toping, CEO (We Mean Business coalition), Manuel Pulgar-Vidal (WWF International), Minster Sayda Melina Rodríguez Gómez (State of Yucatan)