Climate Summit: COP24

Climate change is an undeniable fact and reversing this trend is only achievable via worldwide action and by tackling the problem forcefully from all angles.

As part of its program designed to meet this crucial challenge, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) annually holds a Conference of the Parties (COP) attended by around 200 countries. The COP is the most important worldwide initiative aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and slowing global warming.

Katowice, Poland, was the city chosen to host COP24.

Key outcomes from COP24

The progress made at the 2018 Climate Summit in Katowice shows the international community's ability to reach agreements and forge alliances. Some of the biggest achievements include:

• The agreement to establish a significant part of the Rulebook, the technical framework for implementing the Paris Agreement. It was also decided that throughout 2019, work will be done on cooperation mechanisms, the instrument created to help countries achieve their climate objectives through emissions transfers.
• The agreement on the rules for the global diagnosis that will be done in 2023.
• The launch of the process to approve a new international climate finance objective in 2025.
• The approval of measures to improve climate change information and actions.
• The creation of the Paris Agreement Compliance Committee.
• The approval of three important declarations on just transition, electromobility and forests.

The Iberdrola Group at COP24

Iberdrola actively participated in the main events held at COP24 and has contributed to the success of the final UN climate change process guide, Global Climate Action events and the Tanaloa Dialogue.

Ángeles Santamaría, CEO of Iberdrola Spain, took part in high-level round tables on the Tanaloa Dialogue. Carlos Sallé, vice president of Energy Policies and Climate Change, and Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera, director of Climate Change, took part in high-level panels on Just Transition and the role of alliances in complying with the Paris Agreement. Both Sallé and Sáenz de Miera spoke at the main parallel events organised by IRENA, the World Business Council For Sustainable Development, the Corporate Leaders Group and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, where they advocated for frameworks for ambitious energy and climate change policies.

Also, for another year, the Moving for Climate NOW External link, opens in new window. cycling team, an initiative promoted by the Spanish United Nations Global Compact Network External link, opens in new window. and Iberdrola, arrived in Katowice after travelling more than 600 kilometres by electric bicycle since Vienna (Austria). The initiative's aim is to make society aware of the need to act urgently against climate change using all available mechanisms.

Coinciding with the start of the COP24 in Katowice, Moving for Climate NOW was welcomed by the United Nations Climate Change Deputy Executive Secretary, Ovais Sarmad, and President of COP24, Michal Kurtyka.

During the meeting, the team handed Sarmad and Kurtyka the Manifesto Against Climate Change [PDF] that they have carried throughout the cycle ride. This document focuses on the Talanoa Dialogue, a space for conversation designed to encourage the participation of governments and civil society in achieving the climate goals agreed at the Paris Summit in 2015. Iberdrola is the only Spanish company and the only energy company taking part in the debates in the technical phase of this Dialogue.

Moving for Climate NOW route diary