Can Warsaw Deliver Climate Action: Policy Experts Detail Expectations for COP19

28 October 2013

Warsaw, Poland – Monday October 28, 2013: The major United Nations climate negotiations of the year, COP19, are due to get underway in coal-dependent Poland on November 11th. These talks present both major threats and opportunities to progress towards the comprehensive climate action plan due to be signed in Paris in 2015. 

The talks come as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report showed that it is possible to avoid the worst climate impacts, but only if “substantial and sustained” action starts now. Countries have been challenged to act by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon who asked them to bring “bold pledges” to his Climate Leadership Summit in September next year. The single biggest thing countries can do at Warsaw is to commit to do so.

A pall, nevertheless, hangs over the talks, as the Polish Government has made a series of ham-fisted efforts to allow the fossil fuel lobby to have more influence over the UN meeting and to block European efforts to increase climate action. 

 

• What: You are invited to join a telephone briefing by Climate Action Network experts who will outline civil society’s expectations for the year’s major UN climate negotiations and detail the current state of play in international climate policy.   

    •    When: 10am CET, Tuesday, November 5th, 2013.

    •    How to Join: Please email rvoorhaar@climatenetwork.org to receive a toll free dial in number and conference room code for your country.  If the time zone does not suit, please also get in touch to arrange a one-on-one briefing. 

    •    Who:  
    •     Stephan Singer, global energy policy director, WWF. 
    •     Wendel Trio, director, Climate Action Network Europe
    •     Harjeet Singh, International Coordinator – Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Adaptation, ActionAid