The UNFCCC Conference of the Parties 2019 (COP25) in Madrid, Spain ended in disappointment as delegations failed to agree on rules and mechanisms aimed at delivering Paris Agreement commitments."We cannot afford to give up - now that we know from COP25 which countries are most and which are least committed to the Paris Agreements, we can focus our efforts on working with the former to make the biggest difference", said World Biogas Association (WBA) President David Newman.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties 2019 (COP25) in Madrid, Spain ended in disappointment as delegations failed to agree on the establishment of carbon market rules and other mechanisms aimed at delivering Paris Agreement commitments from 2020 onwards, and chose to defer decisions to next year’s COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.
Whilst we are dismayed by the overall outcome of this year’s Conference of the Parties as we face the climate emergency, we are encouraged by the show of leadership from the European community in setting up a roadmap for action – which ties up with the biogas industry’s own determination to contribute significant GHG emissions reductions over the next decade. We cannot afford to give up – now that we know from COP25 which countries are most and which are least committed to the Paris Agreements, we can focus our efforts on working with the former to make the biggest difference, and on targeting the latter to get them to change their minds, said David Newman, President of World Biogas Assoctaion (WBA).
A few days prior, the European Commission had published the European Green Deal – a roadmap for making the EU’s economy sustainable across all sectors of the economy, notably transport, energy, and agriculture, and announced the publication in the Spring of the first European Climate Law setting into legislation the political ambition for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
It was also at COP25 that the World Biogas Association (WBA) delivered its Biogas Industry and Climate Change Declaration to the UNFCCC in a meeting between WBA President David Newman and H.E. Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
Biogas Industry and Climate Change Declaration to
H.E. Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary of
the UN Climate Change Secretariat, at COP25
(photo courtesy WBA).
In this document, subject to all barriers to industry growth being removed, major biogas organisations set out to deliver a 12 percent reduction in global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by 2030.
The global carbon budget bucket to remain within 1.5 degree Celsius global warming is over 90 percent full this year – we’re running out of time, but we are proud of the example set by the biogas industry in bringing key players together to offer a concrete and sustainable solution and the will to deploy it. As Greta Thunberg said: 2020 is the year of action. We are determined to act, and we now have a clear picture of who our true allies are in this monumental battle for the future of the planet. There is still hope, but COP26 will be a pivotal moment for us all, Newman said.
