Why pre-2020 action matters for Paris

After yet another year of extreme weather events, which devastated many communities across the world, it is clear that urgency of action has become more than a slogan – it is a reality! Delivering on promises of action and support in the pre-2020 period is not only fundamental to maintain trust among Parties (though it does that as well); to limiting the severity of growing climate impacts (yep, it does that too); or making it easier to increase ambition post-2020 (are you getting that this makes sense on many levels yet?); but’ simply put pre-2020 action is crucial to reaching the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

Without ambitious action now (we all know what ‘now’ means, right?), we cannot keep global temperature rise to 1.5°C or well below 2°C. The best available science tells us that greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2020 and decline thereafter.

Need we say more? This is why ECO believes that there is great value in having a dedicated space for discussions on Pre-2020 – while also using all existing channels to consider relevant efforts for advancing pre-2020 action and the necessary support to enable this action in all countries.