To increase the ambitions on climate change, it is important to think of the G20 track and the UN climate track as two roads leading into the same direction. With the F20 reception at the COP25 in Madrid under Chilean presidency, the F20 platform continued advocating for a just transition and an ambitious climate policy and highlighted the role of sustainable finance and impact investment for the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, thereby connecting the G20 and the UN Climate track.
Keynote speakers and Panellists included Mary Robinson, Chair of the Elders, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; David Suzuki, Co-Founder, David Suzuki Foundation; Natasha Matic, Deputy CEO and Chief Strategy Officer, King Khalid Foundation; Sagarika Chatterjee, Director of Climate Change, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI); Enrique Maurtua Konstantinidis, Senior Policy Advisor, Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), C20; Mika Ohbayashi, Director, Renewable Energy Institute.
The reception gathered around 60 guests on the 10th of December 2019. Prior to the reception, the F20 platform hosted a special dinner under the Chatham House Rules on the 8th of December, bringing together negotiators of different countries with high-level representatives of foundations, civil society, business and the financial sector as well as science.
The results of the UN Climate Summit in Madrid, the lack of consensus and ambition keeps the world far ‘off-track’ from responding to the climate emergency. The F20 platform described the results of the COP25 as “completely insufficient”. The postponed decisions on key questions lead to higher expectations for 2020 and the COP26.