JRC at the Climate Change Conference COP25

The UN Climate Change Conference COP25 will take place from 2 to 13 December 2019 at IFEMA, Feria de Madrid, in Spain.

As in previous editions of COP, the EU Pavilion will host a broad set of side events to stimulate debate on key thematic areas by engaging observers and facilitating dialogue with party delegates and other participants.

JRC activities in COP25 side events

The JRC has contributed actively to previous COP events and this year is (co)organising or participating in the following side events:

Tuesday, 3 December, 14:30-16:00, Helsinki Room

• Challenges & Opportunities of achieving “net zero emissions”. How to manage just transition?

This event focuses on specific topics linked to the creation and loss of jobs, risks to potential carbon leakage, changes in transport, as well as transformation of the energy sector and energy poverty.

JRC speaker: Efstathios Peteves

Thursday, 5 December, 12:30-14:00, room Helsinki

• Copernicus Land Monitoring Service for supporting global forest inland water and urban adaptation

This event will focus on the use of the Copernicus, the European Earth Observation Programme. It provides free and open access to high spatial resolution data from Sentinel satellites.

JRC speaker: Mark Dowell

Thursday 5 December, 14:30-16:00, room Helsinki

• From data to policy: how can science contribute to the reporting and verification needs under the Paris Agreement?

The event will focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes that would improve adjustment between global models and countries’ GHG inventories. Our scientists will present the 2019 report on Fossil CO2 and GHG emissions of all world countries, produced thanks to the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), and our work on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry.

JRC speaker: Giacomo Grassi, Fabio Monforti-Ferrario

Saturday 7 December, 16:30-18:00, room Helsinki

• From data to policy: unlocking the power of indexes for sustainable development and climate action

The event will look at a series of indexes measuring sustainable development and climate change and offer reflections by both scientists and policy makers on the importance of data to support policymaking and monitor progress on Sustainable Development Goals and climate action.

The discussion will draw on the work carried out by the European Commission’s Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN). The event is co-organised with the European Committee of the Regions.

JRC speaker: Ana Rita Neves

Thursday 12 December, 09:00-10:30, room Helsinki

• Joint JRC - NCSC forum on long-term scenarios

This side event will focus on energy and climate scenarios and on modelling in support of the 2050 long-term strategy, put forward by the Commission in 2018. The JRC will present its upcoming report on Global Energy and Climate Outlook (GECO) 2019.

The event is co-organised with China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC). Speakers include beneficiaries from EU’s projects that stem from the Strategic Partnership for Implementation of the Paris Agreement (SPIPA). The preliminary results of the PESETA IV projects will also be presented.

JRC speakers: Bert Saveyn, Antonio Soria, Matthias Weizel, Luc Feyen, Juan Carlos Ciscar Martinez

For more details about the COP25 agenda please visit the UNFCCC website

Background

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the international response to climate change. It is a treaty that sets out the basic responsibilities of the 196 Parties (States), plus the European Union, to fight climate change. It was signed at the Earth Summit in 1992 and entered into force in 1994.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. The Parties meet annually to review progress in the implementation of the Convention, while other instruments underpinning its implementation are proposed, assessed and approved.

The first COP took place in Berlin in 1995. Twenty-four COPs have been held to date, the last one in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018.

The COP Presidency rotates among the following five UN regions: Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Others, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently is Chile’s turn, however due to recent clashes in Santiago de Chile, COP 25 is taking place in Spain.

At COP events, the Commission’s Directorate-General Climate Action leads the negotiations on behalf of the EU. The organisation of side events in the EU Pavilion contributes to showcase EU progress in implementing actions to achieve the climate goals agreed upon in Paris.

Venue

Madrid, ES