The Diplomat
The Government of Spain and the Embassies of the United Kingdom and Italy in Madrid yesterday expressed their hope that the upcoming Climate Summit in Glasgow (COP26) will contribute to joining forces in favour of the fulfilment of the Paris Agreements against climate change.
“COP26 will not only be important to agree on rules to follow and to operationalise the Paris Agreement, but also to demonstrate that we keep our commitments to mitigate emissions and build resilience across the planet”, said British Ambassador Hugh Elliott at the launch of the virtual meeting The Road to COP26: A year of recovery and climate ambition, jointly organised by the Embassies of Italy and the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge and the Elcano Royal Institute, and which was dedicated to the role of governments, civil society, companies and cities in the fight against climate change.
For his part, the Italian Ambassador to Spain, Riccardo Guariglia, stated during the closing ceremony that the fight against climate change is “the great challenge of all times” and requires the “common effort” of “all of us together, each making our own contribution”. “With a view to 2030 and beyond, 2050, the results of COP26 in Glasgow in November will be crucial” and, in this process, “both the British presidency of the G7 and the Italian presidency of the G20 will be able to facilitate the necessary political consensus among the main countries and regional groups”. “Spain is undoubtedly a country that has a leading role in the field of the environment and sustainable development and with which we want to work closely”, he added.
During the meeting, the Fourth Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, warned that “in 2021 we will have to show that we make precise and convincing contributions to achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement”. “It would be great to leave COP26 in Glasgow with a clear map of the roadmaps of each of the countries to achieve full decarbonisation in the medium and long term, but also with concrete targets and pathways, and guidance for investors and society”, she said.
Italy’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, said that his country is “very committed to the ecological transition following the path of decarbonisation” and therefore “Italy wants to ensure that recovery measures help climate change by creating jobs”. For his part, the president-elect of COP26, Alok Sharma, expressed his gratitude to Spain “for the work it has done in reducing carbon use and in the success of COP26”.
The President of the Elcano Royal Institute, José Juan Ruiz, stated that the fight against climate change “is existential if we want to save our civilisation” and represents a “global and crucial fight” because “it is not going to be done by governments or companies alone”. “In 2020 we have only achieved a 1% reduction in emissions, we need to reinforce our ambition and commitment”, he continued. “The science is clear, if we are not able to reduce CO2 emissions by 45% on 2010 levels, we will not be able to keep the temperature rise in the range we agreed in the Paris Agreement”, he added.
