NGOer: Klima mangler på dagsorden for stort Afrika-EU topmøde

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Thomas Jazrawi

Det fremgår af en pressemeddelelse fra Climate Action Network onsdag. 

This year’s EU-Africa summit will pay particular attention to issues related to youth, as well as peace and security, governance, investment, trade, jobs and migration.

Climate change poses massive and unbalanced risks towards advancing those areas of cooperation and achieving safer, more resilient and sustainable economies in Africa. However, it is conspicuously absent from the list of priorities identified for the summit.

In an unprecedented joint statement, an broad alliance of African and European climate NGOs urges EU and African leaders to put climate at the forefront of the summit’s agenda and boost their partnership to address climate change.

In particular, the groups emphasise the need for increased financial support to adapt to the impacts of climate change and improved access to clean energy solutions, particularly in vulnerable countries.

Maeve McLynn, Finance and Subsidies Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe said:

“The EU-Africa summit is an ideal moment for the two continents to push forward the implementation of the Paris Agreement and accelerate the clean energy transition. The EU and Africa need to forge a closer alliance that will empower the world’s most vulnerable to cope with the impacts of climate change, improve their access to clean energy and make sustainable development a reality for millions of people in Africa and Europe. It is a precondition for keeping temperature rise to safe levels and a survival question for many African communities.”

The EU-Africa summit falls between the UN Climate Summit COP23 in Bonn, Germany and the One Planet Summit in Paris, France, both strongly featuring the issue of scaling up financial support for climate action in developing countries.

The European Parliament will host a wide range of high-level speakers from Europe and Africa to discuss the upcoming summit today.