After the big words and beautiful speeches at the UN General Assembly debate on climate yesterday, Socialists and Democrats now call for committed action to prepare the real summit on climate, taking place in Paris in December 2015.
S&D vice-president, Kathleen Van Brempt said:
“It is good to hear so many world leaders acknowledge the urgent need to take action and limit global greenhouse emissions. We cannot fail future generations by missing the 2015 deadline to find a new international treaty which can reverse global warming and avoid a rise in temperature of over 2 degrees.
“It looks like the world leaders understood that a failure would mean a degradation of natural resources, new wars for water and food, and millions of impoverished and displaced persons. We now have one year to negotiate specific measures.”
S&D MEP and spokesperson on climate, Matthias Groote, said:
“Unfortunately, no breakthrough happened in New York. The main problem was, and still is, how to finance the necessary changes. There remains a financial gap of $7.7 billion that needs to be filled."
“As long as the states are free to decide whether and how much they invest in climate protection and as long as there is no binding international agreement, it remains a high probability that the voluntary contributions won't be enough and that the 2°C goal will not be reached."
“Plus we need BINDING ambitious goals in order to fight climate change. We need 3 binding goals: the reduction of CO2; an increase of energy efficiency; and the expansion of renewable energy. Europe can maintain their role model position and have a positive influence in the global climate issues.”
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