NICOLA Sturgeon will be among the political leaders to take part in the United Nations climate change conference which begins in Bonn on Monday.
The First Minister and Scotland’s Environment Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, will meet represent-atives from other governments as well as scientists, industry groups and environmental campaigners when they travel to the former west German capital during the course of the two-week event.
The conference’s key objective is to set out how countries can implement the Paris accord to curb climate change – despite Donald Trump’s announcing his intention to pull the US out of the agreement.
The 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP) will be presided over by Fiji, one of the small island nations particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming.
Researchers say extreme weather like the events of recent months — including hurricanes in the Carib- bean, heatwaves in Europe and flooding in south Asia — will become more frequent as a result of climate change. To prevent catastrophic consequences, they say countries must make concerted efforts to shift the global economy away from fossil fuels.
Cunningham said: “The Scottish Government recognises that the need for international collaboration is greater than ever, which is why the First Minister and I will be attending UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] Bonn 23, taking the opportunity to build relations with our international neighbours, and ensure Scotland continues to lead by example in tackling climate change. We believe Scotland and the rest of the developed world has a clear moral duty to ensure our lifestyles do not cause harm to the world’s poorest people.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland will be among a host of environmental groups attending the conference.
Head of campaigns Mary Church said: “Current targets are woefully inadequate to stop warming at 2C, let alone the 1.5C that countries most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming need to have any chance of surviving climate chaos.
“Rich countries who have done the most to cause the climate crisis are still not cutting emissions fast enough, but a growing global movement is forcing them to start facing up to their responsibility, and take action. Friends of the Earth will use the talks to call for an end to the use of polluting fossils fuels and a rapid and just transition to low-carbon econ-omies around the world. For Scotland this means ramping up ambition in our new climate act to zero emissions by 2040, and plan for a fair shift away from North Sea oil and gas.”
Trump announced he will pull out of the 2015 accord unless he can an secure a better deal for the US.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel