Stepping up climate action in the Mediterranean region: the role of the Union for the Mediterranean

Warsaw, 22 November, 2013. A joint side event on ‘Stepping up climate action in the Mediterranean region – the role of the Union for the Mediterranean’ was co-organised by the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA). The event took place on the sidelines of the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCC and 9th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, held from 11 to 22 November under the Polish presidency at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland. During the event, it was announced that a Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Environment and Climate Change is planned to take place within the first semester of 2014. The Maltese Minister for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change, Leo Brincat, participated as a member of the panel.

The event sessions focused on presenting relevant activities and initiatives on climate change promoted  in the Mediterranean region by the Union for the Mediterranean, including the planned enhanced cooperation on climate action with the EU. With the aim of introducing the role of the UfM Secretariat, discussions focused on the possibility of promoting actions in fields such as sustainable consumption and production through UfM projects; the current strategies and initiatives in which the UfM Secretariat is involved, namely, the H2020 Initiative for the Depollution of the Mediterranean Sea, the Urban Development Strategy, and the Mediterranean Solar Plan; as well as the existing platforms for dialogue and ministerial meetings, for example, the Ministerial Conference on Industrial Cooperation, set to take place on 19 February 2014, and the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Climate Change, that is planned to take place during the first semester of 2014.

Particular emphasis was  given to a regional dimension, illustrated by some existing initiatives with a major mitigation impact such as the Mediterranean Solar Plan. Finally, the event covered possible ways of increasing cooperation in the region and engaging in a constructive dialogue for continuation at Ministerial level in the first semester of 2014.