European Commission present at the UN climate conference in Bonn
From 6 – 17 November, the 23rdConference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23) takes place in Bonn, Germany under the presidency of Fiji. It will bring together ministers and government officials, as well as a wide range of representatives from civil society and business. The European Union will be represented by Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and the Estonian Environment Minister Mr Siim Kiisler, as Estonia currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU. Furthermore, Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovic will attend the Climate Summit of local and regional leaders on 12 November, re-iterating the EU’s commitment within global initiatives of cities and local governments leading in the fight against climate change (for the launch of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, of which he is the Co-Chair, see IP/16/2247). On 10 November, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella will speak at the EU Ocean Day on the need for a combined agenda of oceans and climate change (for the EU’s Ocean and global actions strategy see IP/17/3603 and IP/16/3619) and on 11 November opens the Ocean Action Day under the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action (GCA). During the conference, the EU will host more than 100 side events at the EU Pavilion in Bonn. These events, organised by a variety of countries and organisations from Europe and the rest of the world, will address a broad range of climate-related issues from the energy transition to the role of forests and oceans, climate finance, research and innovation and assessing climate risks. Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol meet once a year at high level to discuss how to take international climate action forward and adopt decisions to implement commitments made. This year, Parties will discuss important elements of the historic Paris Agreement and putting its plans into action by 2020. For more information consult the website of the UNFCCC.
