France and Brazil issue joint statement on climate change ahead of COP15 and call for an international organisation dedicated to environment and sustainable development
14th November 2009: The governments of Brazil and France released a joint statement today outlining a common position on climate change, within which they also called for the establishment of an international organization devoted to environment and sustainable development at the Earth Summit 2012 conference.
The statement has been released ahead of the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009. In it they both call for global temperature rises not to exceed 2 degrees Celcius, and for global CO2 emissions to be reduced by at least 50% on 1990 levels by 2050. The statement recognizes the responsibilities of Annex 1, Non Annex 1 and developing country Parties, calling on Annex 1 Parties to outline ‘emission pathways to reduce GHG emissions by 80% by 2050. Non-Annex 1 Parties should ‘pursue low carbon growth by implementing Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs)’ and developing countries are called upon to deviate from business as usual.
The statement emphasises the importance of the provision of financial resources for the implementation of the Convention, calling for a scaling up of international public financing for mitigation and adaptation actions in developing countries – particularly for poor and vulnerable countries in Africa, Least Developed Countries, and Small Island Developing States.
The statement represents an effort on the behalf of Brazil and France to build bridges between industrialised and developing countries for a positive outcome from Copenhagen, as well as a credible plan for progress on global sustainable development beyond COP15.
Brazil and France also concur in the need for the establishment of an international organization devoted to the environment and sustainable development, which would give coherence to the efforts of the international community in these areas. They are convinced that this should be the impetus at Copenhagen in December so that the organization could be established at the Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 2012.
Read the Press Release on the Joint Statement here.
