Brussels, 15/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Union shares the same ambitions as South Korea for the Paris climate conference (COP 21) and pledged at their eighth bilateral summit, which took place in Seoul on Tuesday 15 September, to cooperate to ensure a successful COP21 on 30 November to 11 December.
The two sides are determined to help ensure a legally bidding global deal is reached that applies to all parties to put the world onto the right track to restrict the rise in world temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius above the temperature during the pre-industrial era.
The EU and South Korea pledged to cooperate bilaterally and also with other countries to ensure the deal is “impious, durable, global, effective and flexible and spur cooperative action for the transformation to a non-carbon economy,” they explained in a press statement published after the summit.
The deal will need to include measures on transparent commitments and the responsibility of all parties, respecting countries' differentiated responsibility and capacity. It should cover questions of adaptation to climate change and financing via the Green Climate Fund. The two sides said they want the fund to be fully operational later this year and to be the main operational instrument for financing the fight against climate change post-2020. The EU will look into the possibility of cooperating with the Global Green Growth Institute, explains the joint statement.
“To reach the deal, the European Union submitted the most ambitious contribution to date. In order to succeed, we need others in particular major economies like the Korean, to join our lead in this process,” said the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, in response to an address by South Korean president Park Geun-hye at a press conference.
The leaders of the EU and South Korea jointly urged all the parties that have not yet provided the United Nations with their national contribution offer (INDC) to do so, particularly major and emerging economies. They stressed the need for speedier action to tackle climate change between now and 2020. (Aminata Niang)