Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued the following statement on the global climate pact reached today at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris:
“This is a historic turning point in the quest to combat one of the biggest threats facing humanity,” said Governor Brown. “Activists, businesses and sub-national leaders now need to redouble their efforts and push for increasingly aggressive action.”
Governor Brown attended the UN Climate Change Conference at the invitation of UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres – the United Nations’ top climate change official – and France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius – the president of the COP21.
Governor Brown spent five days at the conference in Paris, during which time he met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, China’s Special Envoy on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua, France’s Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Ségolène Royal, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, former Vice President Al Gore and a number of world leaders at events in Le Bourget and throughout Paris organized by the French, U.S., German and Chinese governments, UNFCCC, the European Commission, the World Bank, UN Foundation, Climate Group, International New York Times, École Normale Supérieure (ENS) and many others.
Over the course of the conference, the Governor welcomed a total of 58 new signatories to the Under 2 MOU climate agreement – bringing the tally to 123 jurisdictions representing more than 720 million people and $19.9 trillion in combined GDP, equivalent to more than a quarter of the global economy.
The Under 2 MOU is an agreement to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius, the warming threshold at which scientists say there will likely be catastrophic climate disruptions. Signatories commit to either reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 to 95 percent below 1990 levels or limit per capita annual emissions to less than 2 metric tons by 2050.
During one of the Under 2 MOU signing ceremonies in Paris, California and the German state of Baden-Württemberg – who together have spearheaded the Under 2 MOU – announced that The Climate Group will take on the role of secretariat for the pact, helping the signatories share expertise and policy solutions and ensuring that governments deliver on their commitments.
The Climate Group is an international nonprofit that works with business, state and regional leaders to promote a prosperous, low carbon future. Last year, with the backing of the United Nations, it helped to create the Compact of States and Regions, a complementary initiative to the Under 2 MOU that works with governments to measure and report progress toward their emission reduction goals and ensure accountability.
Also during the Paris conference, Governor Brown and U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced that California will host the seventh Clean Energy Ministerial in San Francisco next year.
