EU-CELAC Climate Alliance

Climate change stands high on the agenda of the EU’s strategic partnership with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Together, the EU and CELAC countries make up almost one third of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Only a few months ahead of the Climate Conference in Paris, the meetings of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) and the EU-CELAC Summit in Brussels provide a great opportunity to strengthen the bi-regional alliance on climate change.

Latin American and Caribbean countries increasingly try to forge consensus on a CELAC regional position on climate change based on a deepened understanding of common priorities and needs regarding the content of the climate change agreement. Meanwhile, the EU is vitalising its climate diplomacy and recognises the importance of a coalition with Latin American countries. In order to be effective and credible, the EU’s climate diplomacy outreach must take into account the priorities of its partners. Latin America, on the other hand, can build bridges between different continents and provide constructive insights and strategies into the underlying debate of how to reconcile development with the need to tackle climate change.

Key questions to be addressed in the discussion include: To what extent can a EuroLat Urgent Resolution for the Paris Climate Conference encourage European, Latin American and Caribbean Heads of State and Government to adopt an ambitious joint work programme on climate change in Brussels? In which priority areas should EU-CELAC cooperation on climate change be intensified and what role can and should parliamentarians play? And to what extent can the bi-regional partnership help to build trust and align positions in the international climate negotiations to lead the world to a successful outcome in Paris?

Speakers
Teresa Ribera, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI)
Ernest Urtasun, Member of the European Parliament and Co-rapporteur on EuroLat Urgent Resolution on Climate Change
Cecilia Castro Márquez, Member of the Andean Parliament and Co-rapporteur on EuroLat Urgent Resolution on Climate Change
Jan Karremans, Director Technical Assistance, EUROCLIMA programme

Moderator
Silvia Brugger, Director Climate and Energy Programme, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union