Dear Party delegates,
2019 has been a year in which millions of people have taken their demands to the streets (and hundreds to the halls of the IFEMA Conference Center), clearly voicing our discontent with the c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e lack of ambition to address the climate emergency.
With only 17 days separating us from 2020 — the year when global emissions need to decrease drastically — it’s high time to adopt an ambitious package here at COP, before going home and getting to work in our respective countries and communities. We came here to hear your concrete plans on how you will enhance your NDCs by 2020 to ensure we limit warming to 1.5°C, and we didn’t hear much that inspired hope.
To prepare you for such an exciting year as 2020 will be, ECO has put together a list of the necessary ingredients for a truly transformative NDC:
This NDC will affect everyone, so include everyone; ensure a broad civil society based approach. Don’t know where to start? Here’s a TIP: process needs to be Transparent, Inclusive and Participatory.
A well-defined timeline for enhancing your NDCs, making sure they are complete by the end of August or, at latest, September.
A long-term strategy that will ensure a sustainable, equitable, and just transition of our societies, for people and planet, with real positive impact on the ground and at local levels.
A little bit of courage to make sure that, in spite of the lobbying efforts of big emitters and industry, we have ambition that embraces human rights, ecosystems and addresses the needs of the most vulnerable;
If you wrap these ingredients with the best available science — like the three very comprehensive special reports that you yourself ordered to guide your work and the IPCC has so kindly laid out — you (and we) will be just fine.
It is, once again, that time of the year when we depart from these halls. But now, with the NDC revision process knocking at your door, it’s not time to say goodbye. Rather, we’ll say: we’ll see you very soon, at home. And please do not worry, we’ll be there to make sure you unpack the ambition package properly.
Hasta luego!