New-York, 21 September 2014 - On the occasion of the Climate Summit taking place on 23 September 2014, organized by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, a joint statement endorsed by member organizations from 8 of the 9 Major Groups and Constituencies recognized by the United Nations will be officially submitted to the Secretary General and addressed to all Member States.
It is the first time that Local and Regional Governments address a statement endorsed by such diverse non-State actors, particularly from major international organizations that represent the groups, to the United Nations. The Statement has been prepared collectively, through several meetings over the past few months, with a focus on climate and Sustainable Development Goals, in which organizing partner organizations for the upcoming negotiations were invited.
Considering the importance and the representativeness of the signatory organizations - some of them being federations of hundreds of organizations– as well as the diversity of their geographic areas and sectors of intervention, it is the most broadly supported text that non-State actors have ever presented in climate negotiations. It also stresses non-State actors’ will to strengthen their cooperation at global level in view of Paris Climate Conference in 2015, and shows the consensuses that exist between these actors.
This statement recalls the absolute scientific urgency of climate change and the priority of limiting the global increase in temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. It stresses that negotiations on climate and Sustainable Development Goals are strongly interconnected.
We also highlight that an agreement between national governments will not be enough to address the issue without the commitment of all non-State actors at local and subnational levels. Each group bears a part of the global solution and their efforts will be essential. This statement thus affirms our commitment to act, and we assure national governments of our support in the implementation of the ambitious commitments they must make.
We seize the opportunity of the Climate Summit to make this call to Heads of State to put climate change back at the top of the political agenda and make non-State actors an integral part of the successful negotiation and implementation of the 2015 decisions.
Read the joint statement as well as details on some of the signatory organizations.
