Press Office
Rome, 9 October 2021
Hellenic Parliament Delegation at Pre-COP26 Parliamentary Meeting in Rome
The two-day Pre-COP26 parliamentary meeting held at the Italian Parliament in Rome concluded today. The COP26 international conference on climate change will take place in November in Glasgow.
The meeting was co-organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Italian Parliament with 300 participants. The Hellenic Parliament was represented by Dr. Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou, Chairwoman of the Special Permanent Committee on Environmental Protection and Mrs. Chara Kafantari, 1st Deputy Chair of the Committee.
Dr. Dionysia Avgerinopoulou noted that the role of MPs is crucial for tackling the climate crisis mainly through the adoption of ambitious legislation. She expressed Greece’s support for the full implementation of the Paris Agreement, while she informed the participants that Greece is moving towards the complete elimination of lignite power plants and increasing the use of renewable energy sources by 2025. The goal is, she said, a fair transition towards a green, digital, sustainable recovery. She also called for global action to ensure that the average temperature rise does not exceed 1,5 degrees Celsius, for additional funding for environmental infrastructures and green jobs and for cooperation between countries to effectively prevent and tackle natural disasters, including forest fires. She concluded by stressing the importance of additional emphasis on research, technology and innovation to absorb excess CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, to protect biodiversity and to achieve an economy with zero greenhouse gas emissions and zero waste by 2050.
Mrs. Chara Kafantari speaking in the section on the negotiations in the framework of COP26, referred to the warnings by the UN regarding the impact of the climate crisis, as well as the goals that have been set in order to mitigate and address the phenomenon. She made special reference to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which emphasises the need to take emergency measures and use the means necessary to reduce global warming, as well as to reports by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which emphasise that 40% of the global population does not have the means for a healthy diet, and that biodiversity is deteriorating significantly around the world. As the MP noted, these reports confirm the triple threat to the planet, i.e. climate change, food insecurity and the loss of biodiversity, while as a solution she stressed the need to move to new economies and radically change development models, including changing consumer habits, sustainable energy production and agricultural methods, environmental protection and ecosystem rehabilitation. To achieve the above goals, she said, governments, businesses and the civil society are required to cooperate.
The meeting concluded with the unanimous adoption of a text of conslusions, that will be finalized at the parliamentary meeting in Glasgow. The participants were also received by Pope Francis, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.
The Greek delegation, on the sidelines of the meeting, on its own initiative, held bilateral meetings with MPs from Euro-Mediterranean countries (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia) and with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), to discuss the crucial common issue of forest fires in the region and ways to work together to address it.
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