MPs to galvanise parliamentary action on climate change

Geneva, 26 November 2015

Scientists predict an increase in flooding and extreme weather events as the effects of climate change start to bite. ©Reuters/Beawiharta

More than  500 parliamentary delegates, including close to 300 MPs from across the world, will seek to galvanise parliamentary action on the global threat posed by climate change by implementing a potentially landmark global agreement after they meet in Paris next week.

Organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the French Parliament, the meeting on 5-6 December is expected to adopt an outcome document and endorse a parliamentary action plan on climate change to support solution-focused global measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
With a global deal on the issue hanging in the balance, the MPs will urge world leaders at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP21/CMP11) taking place in parallel to the parliamentary event, to agree specific means by which their pledges will be turned into reality.

The MPs from more than 80 countries, including 26 Speakers and Deputy Speakers of Parliament, are expected to stress the urgency with which the climate change threat must be addressed and the vital role of parliaments and parliamentarians in delivering change on the issue. 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Hollywood star and Founding Chair of Regions of Climate Action (R20) Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Professor Nicholas Stern are among a wide range of high-level speakers and experts at the parliamentary meeting, which takes place at the French National Assembly on 5 December and the French Senate on 6 December.

IPU President Saber Chowdhury, Speakers of the French Parliament Claude Bartolone and Gérard Larcher, as well as Chair of COP21 Laurent Fabius will officially open the meeting with the UN Secretary General.

During the two days, MPs will cover issues relating to the green economy, green energy, moving from climate science to parliamentary action and priorities for global action.

“There has been no time to lose on climate change for a long time. More than ever, the world needs a binding agreement to come out of COP21. And it needs parliaments to take that agreement and translate it into effective laws, properly resourced for implementation and follow-up,” says IPU President Saber Chowdhury.

“A successful COP21 will mean the new sustainable development agenda States signed up to just a few months ago will have a greater chance of delivering the results the world needs,” he adds. The MPs will urge COP21 to add the outcomes of their meeting to those of the UN summit. The parliamentary action plan on climate change is also expected to be formally adopted by the IPU membership at its next Assembly in Lusaka in March 2016.