Print
See related documents
Resolution 2210 (2018)
Climate change and implementation of the Paris Agreement
1. By signing the Paris Agreement
in December 2015, 194 countries of the United Nations and the European
Union recognised climate change as an existential threat to humanity:
there is no planet “B”, and the health of our planet is key to our
own prosperity. The entry into force of the agreement just one year
after its signature was a remarkable sign of the global community’s
resolve to act deeply and widely, moving towards a “bottom-up” approach
as opposed to the “top-down” logic pursued previously. Despite the
recent withdrawal of the United States federal administration, over
70% of global greenhouse gas emissions remain covered by nationally
determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. However, to
stop global temperatures from rising more than 2°C by 2050, additional
efforts are required over the next decade.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly hails European leadership in steering
the global process to prevent the planet from “overheating”. Cleaner,
more sustainable development is the only way to correctly accommodate the
needs of the present and future generations, wherever they live.
Considering that developing countries are most severely affected
by climate change, although they bear much less responsibility for
greenhouse gas emissions than developed countries, more solidarity
between developed and developing countries is needed to share know-how,
(financial) resources and clean technologies, especially with the
small island developing States (as agreed in the Small Island Developing
States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway)).
3. The Assembly therefore believes that implementation of the
Paris Agreement should go hand in hand with the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by
the global community in the same year. It refers to the ample evidence
showing that investment in more environmentally friendly development
and global sustainable policies makes good economic sense, as well
as being a responsible policy choice for the future. Worldwide,
the cost of extreme climatic events continues to increase, as does
the cost of inaction: in Europe, the cost of damage incurred from
climatic disasters doubled between the 1980s and the 2000s, totalling
as much as €436 billion according to the European Environment Agency.
4. The Assembly welcomes the launch of the Marrakech Partnership
for Global Climate Action with a view to the implementation of the
Paris Agreement. This strategy aims to involve multiple actors in
pro-climate action: it supports voluntary collaboration of civil
society, the private sector, financial institutions, local and subnational
authorities, and local communities, as applicable. In this context,
urban, estuarial and island development models deserve special support
so as to tap the huge potential of green growth in serving both the
population and the climate cause, as well as low-carbon growth and
renewable energies.
5. Mainstreaming sustainable development and resilience to climate
change in national policies through law remains a considerable challenge
for European countries. The Assembly regrets that official national delegations
to global climate change meetings (COPs) rarely include parliamentarians
and urges European countries to lead the change by example and systematically
include parliamentarians in their delegations. Closer involvement
of legislators should enable better policy coherence with a view
to honouring domestic and international commitments under the Paris
Agreement, ensuring a more balanced allocation of budgetary resources,
and putting into place the legislative framework for green investment.
6. In the light of the above considerations, the Assembly calls
for strong national measures to promote the implementation of the
Paris Agreement at all levels of governance. It invites the member
States to:
6.1. draw up an ambitious
national strategy accompanied by a concrete action plan, built and implemented
with the active and direct participation of regional authorities,
for mainstreaming the SDGs, in particular where they relate to climate
change concerns, across the main policy fields;
6.2. draft a national capital-raising plan detailing the financial
resources to be mobilised in order to implement the above-mentioned
action plan, considering both national and international funding sources,
thus providing certainty to domestic and foreign investors, and
making the most of the growth potential of sustainable development;
6.3. hold regular consultations with different stakeholders
(civil society, the private sector, financial and academic institutions,
local and subnational authorities, and local communities) to monitor
progress in cutting emissions and adapting to the negative impacts
of climate change, and to identify problem areas that hinder the
realisation of nationally determined contributions;
6.4. take advantage of regional opportunities for exchanges
of good practice and co-investment in climate-friendly development
models under the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action;
6.5. make pledges and honour their commitments towards replenishing
the Green Climate Fund set up under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change in 2010, in line with the principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities;
6.6. advance the transition to the circular economy, devise
incentives for both public and private sectors to re-use materials
at the end of the product cycle, and establish ambitious national
recycling targets for 2030 and 2050;
6.7. promote a sustainable urbanisation vision by pursuing
smart-city policies to turn European cities into global leaders
in attracting sustainable investment, with special attention to
energy efficiency in buildings, the means for cutting greenhouse
gas emissions from transport, district heating and cooling, renewable
energy generation, waste management and sustainable, innovative
industrial activities;
6.8. map out the transition to more sustainable, innovative
farming practices so that the use of natural resources is optimised,
value-added generation is maximised, European biodiversity is protected,
and greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced or captured
and diverted to other uses;
6.9. foster participation of the private sector – through both
voluntary and binding measures – to ensure that it contributes its
fair share to achieving domestic climate goals;
6.10. restructure their energy production and consumption in
such a way that fossil materials are increasingly diverted to non-energy
uses and gradually replaced by renewable energy sources;
6.11. foster the adoption of ambitious measures on green public
procurement, reinforcing the role of the public sector in creating
a market pull for low-carbon, innovative solutions and reinforcing
the role of Europe's industry in providing those solutions;
6.12. secure the involvement of national parliamentarians in
global climate negotiations and in prior governmental consultations
on the national negotiating position;
6.13. where feasible, consider joining the European Union Emissions
Trading System following the example of non-European Union countries
that have already done so;
6.14. assure gender-responsive climate policy by implementing
the Gender Action Plan as agreed by the COP23.
7. The Assembly stresses the importance of parliamentary action
in relation to the above measures. It believes that legislators
of the parties to the Paris Agreement have the duty to check that
the five-year roadmap for assessing national climate policies is
on track and in line with the agreed national targets. The Assembly therefore
calls on national parliaments to ensure that dedicated structures,
mechanisms and resources are in place for stepping up national efforts
on climate change.
8. Finally, the Assembly urges the three member States (the Russian
Federation, San Marino and Turkey) that have not yet ratified the
Paris Agreement to do so at the earliest opportunity.