Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités

The 23rd Conference of the Parties on climate change (COP23) has just opened on Monday in Bonn, Germany, for two weeks of negotiations.

The presidency has been assigned to the Fiji islands and it is a very symbolic choice for the small-island developing states that will be and already are impacted by climate change. If nothing is done to stop or slow down the sea level rise, some islands are doomed to disappear over the course of this century.

A technical COP that has become political

COP23 was supposed to be mainly "technical" but it has become more political by the end of this year with the multiplication of extreme climate events: Harvey and Irma hurricanes, heavy monsoon rains in Southeast Asia, famine on the rise across the globe for the first time in ten years... More political also because the Unites-States have announced they would withdraw from the Paris Agreement through the voice of President Trump when they are the second biggest CO2 emitter in the world after China (and first per capita).

The Parties will therefore need lots of ambition and determination to prepare COP24, which is set to be the first stage of evaluation of the actions led by the countries that have committed to the Paris Agreement. The international community will need to set stricter implementing rules for the monitoring and transparency of these actions.

GERES commits to mobilize civil society

At GERES, we think that this unstable political situation requires to mobilize the various civil society players around an ecological and societal transition that will allow us to mitigate climate change and adapt to it: NGOs, local authorities and the private sector must work hand in hand to manage to boost this transition.

This is why GERES has launched since COP21 an ambitious Movement for Climate Solidaritywhich rallies Ambassadors, Friends and Citizens around this same universal cause, instilling hope and instigating practical action. The movement's target for the next three years is to mobilize 1 million climate actions "here" and support 1 million low-carbon development stakeholders "there". Citizens around the world must realize that their power to act is huge.

Our events at COP23

In order to defend this great cause, GERES is sending a delegation of 4 people this year to follow the negotiations in Bonn and promote the movement for Climate Solidarity on many side-events. You can also meet us at our booth during the second week.

List of our events

Wednesday, November 15 at 9am« Mobilizing all stakeholders in the fight against climate change, an essential condition for reaching the SDGs »