COP-19: nearly the end but running into overtime

This week Ministers and other authorities joined the nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-19) here in Warsaw. During the High-Level Segment, opened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban-Ki Moon, Ministers and representatives from member countries made their statements which set out their expectations for Warsaw, Lima and Paris.

In his speech, the Secretary of State for the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Ed Davey, urged countries to continue moving apace towards a new agreement, sustaining progress on mitigation, adaptation and finance. On the latter, the Secretary of State highlighted the UK’s contribution to climate finance, which has reached the 0.7% of GDP commitment.

The Brazilian Environment Minister, Izabella Teixeira, also spoke at the plenary and stressed that ambition should remain the one driving force on the road to Paris. She described Brazil’s impressive progress against its national voluntary commitment but also noted that the work is not over.

As we reach the final moments of COP, a lot has been put forward to Ministers to decide upon so we can leave Warsaw with a sense of being one step closer towards reaching a Global Deal in 2015. An enormous amount of work goes into making what translates into the largest international negotiations in the world, and those efforts should not be overlooked by ill-managed expectations. As our Special Representative for Climate Change, Sir David Kinghas said, we need to continue to be optimistic!