Schedule of the Acting President of the Government's high-level meetings

Pedro Sánchez meets international figures in the fight against the climate emergency at COP25

2019.12.10

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At the meetings, Pedro Sánchez expressed Spain's firm commitment to lead the fight against climate change, as demonstrated in the offer to host the COP25 and organise it in record time.

Pedro Sánchez met with Al Gore, the former Vice-President of the United States; Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the United Nations General Assembly; Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); Michael Bloomberg, organiser of the Bloomberg Global Business Forum; the actor Harrison Ford; John Kerry, the former US Secretary of State; and Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission.

Pedro Sánchez agreed with all of them that we are facing an unprecedented climate emergency and that we cannot only not allow ourselves any delay, but we have to raise our level of ambition and continue to drive the agenda at a global level.

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaAs he did at the official opening of the conference, Pedro Sánchez stressed the need to reach ambitious commitments and a "reinforced multilateralism" against the climate emergency, stating that the Government of Spain is moving to achieve the main goals of COP25, which include agreeing on carbon market rules, reviewing the damage and loss mechanism, and ensuring that all the countries, particularly the emitters, adopt the most ambitious policy.

Pedro Sánchez also remarked on the importance of collaboration with the private sector, pointing out that we cannot act in isolation if we want to limit the increase in temperatures to 1.5 degrees with respect to pre-industrial levels. "Economic prosperity and the protection of our planet have to be compatible goals", he explained.

The Acting President of the Government also recalled that Spain is fully involved in compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a contribution of 100 million euros for the Joint SDG Fund over the next five years, as announced in September in New York.

He also informed his guests that the Government of Spain is concluding strategic partnership frameworks with four priority agencies: UN Women, concluded in March; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), concluded in September; and the UN Population Fund and UNICEF, still at the negotiation phase.

At his meeting with the former US Vice-President Al Gore, Pedro Sánchez analysed the reforestation of the two countries, energy efficiency, future mobility and their impact on job creation. Al Gore valued very positively Spain's Energy and Climate Plan. At his meeting with Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Pedro Sánchez expressed the need to continue boosting multilateralism as a tool to tackle the climate crisis and offered Spain's support for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. With the President of the FAO he tackled the impact of the climate crisis on agriculture and the fight against hunger, as well as the role of new technology in the agri-food business and the potential of aquaculture.

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaThe Acting President of the Government also met with Michael Bloomberg, with whom he discussed climate change, the political situation in the United States and the collaborative economy. Before that, he met with Harrison Ford, at the actor's request, as he was in Madrid accompanying Michael Bloomberg. He presented his initiative to mobilise action at a State, local and private sector level in response to the climate emergency.

With John Kerry, one of the signatories to the Paris Agreement, Pedro Sánchez talked about "World War Zero" the project to tackle climate change being presented at COP25, with the participation of key figures from politics and society in the United States.

The round of meetings closed with Frans Timmermans, with whom he discussed the role of the leadership that must be assumed by the European Union in the fight against climate change, with the carbon neutral horizon of 2050.

Non official translation