Motion for a resolution | Doc. 14093 | 21 June 2016

Climate change and implementation of the Paris Agreement

Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Climate change is the most important threat to mankind of our century:the future of the next generations and the sustainable development of our planet are at risk. Melting polar icecaps are leading to rising sea water levels, people’s health is starting to become affected and ecosystems are in danger.Even in more moderate climate zones, weather conditions are changing dramatically.

However, climate change mostly affects developing countries, which are less responsible for the greenhouse emissions but most vulnerable to climate change damages. These will lead to human rights violations (e.g. of the right to life, to food and to shelter) and may force many to flee their countries and regions hit by natural disasters and changing weather conditions.

In the battle against climate change, the international community has been adopting and promoting essential legal frameworks which now await their effective implementation. In particular, the historic Paris agreement adopted in December 2015 by 176 States under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is meant to provide for the stabilisation of the global average temperature increase below 2°C, and sets ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse emissions.

The Parliamentary Assembly should promote these international instruments and identify best practices of member States when it comes to addressing the challenge of climate change. National parliaments and governments should be incited to take measures aimed at supporting the implementation of the Paris agreement and to reinforce their commitments made therein, such as through the adoption of legislative packages and the implementation of ambitious national climate action plans.