2018-12-08 15:50 update: 2018-12-10, 13:02
Photo PAP/Waldemar Deska
The president of the COP24 Summit, Deputy Minister of the Environment Michał Kurtyka, told a press conference on Saturday that the summit has been moving forward but there is still a lot to be done.
While summing up the first week of debates, Kurtyka stressed that the Monday summit of state leaders brought a political message from President Andrzej Duda and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and added it "was a driving force for the beginning of work."
He also described as 'symbolic' the declaration made by World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva in Katowice, in accordance with which the World Bank will double its investments in climate action to about USD 200 billion within five years. "This is a considerable contribution to the conference which also focuses on financial problems," he underlined.
Referring to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Kurtyka said that having confirmed the negative effects of climate change, it "has made us aware of the urgency of debated issues and the necessity to act."
"The sense of urgency has been reflected in the good progress achieved at the summit. Negotiators have been working hard, this is a 24-hour job," he went on.
"We have been nearing the middle point of our conference and moving from technical problems to political issues," Kurtyka said. He admitted that he saw progress regarding the technical side but "there are still many problems ahead of us that must be solved during the second week, which will be very important because it will shape the entire implementation package for the Paris Agreement," he emphasised.
Kurtyka also announced that next week ministers from around the world will come to Katowice. "We hope that we will manage to engage them and that we will receive a positive response," he said, stressing 'the good political atmosphere" surrounding the summit to date.
The official also underlined the importance for the Polish COP24 presidency of two declarations adopted in Katowice, namely, "Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration" and "Driving Change Together – Katowice Partnership for E-mobility."
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, who took part in the same press conference, said that COP24 was accompanied by many positive signals and stressed the need to popularise the sense of urgency of climate-oriented actions and related initiatives.
COP24, the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN convention on climate change, is being held in Katowice (south Poland) from December 2 to 14. Attending the event are almost 30,000 delegates from all over the world, including heads of government and ministers responsible for environmental and climate issues. The summit's main objective is the passage of legislation implementing the Paris Agreement. (PAP)
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