Andorra To Urge Paris Agreement Signatories To Stick To Deal At Coming COP24 - Minister

Andorra to Urge Paris Agreement Signatories to Stick to Deal at Coming COP24 - Minister

The implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate is a priority for Andorra, whose economy might be seriously damaged by the global temperature increase, so it will therefore seek to persuade all the signatories to the deal to stick to its guidelines at the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Poland, Andorran Foreign Minister Maria Ubach Font told Sputnik on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th October, 2018) The implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate is a priority for Andorra, whose economy might be seriously damaged by the global temperature increase, so it will therefore seek to persuade all the signatories to the deal to stick to its guidelines at the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Poland, Andorran Foreign Minister Maria Ubach Font told Sputnik on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented its report, which outlined the possible consequences of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels for the world. The report, in particular, projected that if global warming will be 1.5 degrees Celsius, the rise in sea levels will be 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) lower by 2100 compared to global warming of 2 degrees Celsius, which is the target agreed at the Paris climate talks in 2015.

"That will be the following of the convention of the climate change that will take place in Poland and of course the thing is always the same, is that we have to try and convince all of the member states to continue to work on the guidelines that was established by the agreements of Paris that is the main point. All of the states need to go on the same way," the minister said.

She stressed that for Andorra the issue of climate change was extremely important since the tiny country's main source of income was ski tourism, and the rise in temperatures threatened to result in reduced snow cover.

The minister emphasized that the implementation of the Paris Agreement was the first major step toward preventing the climate situation from worsening. She also revealed some steps being taken by Andorran authorities in order to be more environmentally friendly.

"We are going to try to ... create our own energy by the solar way or hydrological way. We are trying to diversify the different ways of energy in Andorra. There are plans for the waste. There is a national plan for the electric bicycles. We have a specific and a national plan," the foreign minister underlined.

The 24th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in the Polish city of Katowice on December 3-14, 2018. The Polish presidency has three main goals: developing environmentally friendly technologies, building solidarity in industrial regions' transition to climate friendly societies and achieving climate neutrality.

The Paris climate deal, created within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, went into force on November 4, 2016. It has been ratified by 181 of the 197 parties to the accord. The deal aims at keeping the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.