The UN Climate Change Conference COP 25 (2 – 13 December 2019) will take place under the Presidency of the Government of Chile and will be held with logistical support from the Government of Spain. SBSTA 51/ SBI 51 will take place 2-9 December 2019. The pre-sessional period is from 25 November – 1 December 2019. The President for the conference is Ms. Carolina Schmidt, Minister of Environment of Chile.
The conference is designed to take the next crucial steps in the UN climate change process. Following agreement on the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement at COP 24 in Poland last year, a key objective is to complete several matters with respect to the full operationalization of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. More about the conference
Announcements and updates
Overview schedule as of 2 December 2019 (Once the sessions have started, please consult the Daily Programme and CCTV)
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday that the world’s efforts to stop climate change have been “utterly inadequate” so far and there is a danger global warming could pass the “point of no return.”
Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations at the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25).
“The decisions we make here will ultimately define whether we choose a path of hope, or a path of surrender. Remember: we made a commitment to the people of the world through the Paris Agreement. It was a solemn promise. Let us open our ears to the multitudes who are demanding change. Let us open our eyes to the imminent threat facing us all. Let us open our minds to the unanimity of the science. There is no time and no reason to delay. We have the tools, we have the science, we have the resources. Let us show we also have the political will that people demand from us. To do anything less will be a betrayal of our entire human family and all the generations to come.” (Extract)
Speaking at the opening of the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Madrid, Secretary-General António Guterres today (2 Dec) said the world stands “at a critical juncture” in its collective efforts to limit dangerous global warming.
The Secretary-General said, “by the end of the coming decade we will be on one of two paths. One is the path of surrender, where we have sleepwalked past the point of no return, jeopardizing the health and safety of everyone on this planet,” or a “path of hope. A path of resolve, of sustainable solutions. A path where more fossil fuels remain where they should be – in the ground – and where we are on the way to carbon neutrality by 2050.”
He asked, “do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?”
Guterres said, “millions throughout the world – especially young people – are calling on leaders from all sectors to do more, much more, to address the climate emergency we face. They know we need to get on the right path today, not tomorrow. That means important decisions must be made now, and COP25 is our opportunity.”
He said, “incremental steps” taken so far are “nowhere near the scope and scale required,” and added that “what we need is not an incremental approach, but a transformational one.”
The Secretary-General said, “we need a rapid and deep change in how we do business, how we generate power, how we build cities, how we move, and how we feed the world.”
He stressed that “if we don’t urgently change our way of life, we jeopardize life itself.”
Guterres outlined the work programme for the two-week event covering multiple aspects of the climate crisis, including capacity-building, deforestation, indigenous peoples, cities, finance, technology, and gender.
COP25 marks the beginning of a 12-month process to review countries’ “Nationally Determined Contributions” or NDCs (the commitments made under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement) and ensure that they are ambitious enough to defeat the climate emergency.
The hard facts about global warming – a defining issue of our time. Climate change is happening now, and even world leaders meeting for climate talks at this year’s Cop25 know we aren’t doing enough to stop it. In fact, we’re going backwards. The UN says carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere are going up, and the earth is on track to warm by 3.2 degrees before the century is over. The consequences of that acceleration are already proving disastrous for communities around the world. This week’s episode of Start Here cuts through the science and the politics, to get you what you need to know about what’s at stake for the planet.
FT writers Leslie Hook, Martin Wolf and Gillian Tett dispel doubts about climate change and explain why there is political paralysis. Read more at https://on.ft.com/2DxrQ0S.
This week, we’re broadcasting from the 2019 United Nations climate change conference in Madrid, otherwise known as COP25. The conference was originally intended to take place in Santiago, Chile, but was moved to Madrid after hikes in the subway fare sparked a wave of nationwide protests. The decision to relocate was a “strategic move” on the part of the government to shift focus away from the mounting anti-government demonstrations, says Chilean activist Angela Valenzuela. “Our president was not willing to listen to people and have an open dialogue,” she says. Valenzuela is an artist and a coordinator with Fridays for Future in Chile.
Excuse quality but filmed on the fly – Leading climate scientist and activist Professor James Hansen gives his first press conference at COP25 in Madrid giving an overview of the climate situation and what we need to do immediately.
Dec 4, 2019 Friday’s for future
Negotiators have never lived in poverty
Global South are not represented
World leaders are protecting interests of the fossil fuel industry
Undemocratic, criminal…
We need to change if we are to hold 1.5°C – injustice towards those who do not have a voice.
Solidarity with all those who are not receiving climate justice.
Millions are now coming together to say no more to the few who are benefiting from the destruction of the global commons.
We are in the biggest crisis the world has ever known and the youth of today are the biggest victims.
I come from Tasmania, our country is literally on fire.
We are not only in a climate emergency, we are in a climate justice emergency.
The voices of those who should be heard are being silenced.
It’s time to move beyond politics…
Barrier reef is experiencing continual bleaching.
300kms of fire front lines.
The youth here are represented intercontinentally and will stay until we are heard.
It’s time to stop greenwashing, stop extracting,
Africa is the worst hit by climate change… We must be at the centre of every decision made in this conference.
Welcome to Transition Studies. To prosper for very much longer on the changing Earth humankind will need to move beyond its current fossil-fueled civilization toward one that is sustained on recycled materials and renewable energy. This is not a trivial shift. It will require a major transition in all aspects of our lives.
This weblog explores the transition to a sustainable future on our finite planet. It provides links to current news, key documents from government sources and non-governmental organizations, as well as video documentaries about climate change, environmental ethics and environmental justice concerns.
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