Welcoming Outcome of Lima Climate Change Conference, Secretary-General Calls on All Parties to Submit ‘Ambitious National Commitments’

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary‑General Ban Ki‑moon:

The Secretary‑General welcomes the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference that concluded today in Lima and he congratulates Peru for successfully hosting the Conference.  The decisions adopted in Lima, including the Lima Call for Climate Action, pave the way for the adoption of a universal and meaningful agreement in 2015.  The Secretary‑General urges all parties, at their first meeting in February next year, to enter into substantive negotiations on the draft text of the 2015 agreement coming from the Conference.

In Lima, parties made important advances in clarifying what they will need to prepare and present in their intended nationally determined contributions to the new agreement and in finalizing the institutional architecture for a mechanism on loss and damage.  Also in Lima, the $10 billion goal for the initial capitalization of the Green Climate Fund was surpassed.

The Secretary‑General calls on all parties, especially the major economies, to submit their ambitious national commitments well in advance of Paris.  He also looks forward to working with the Governments of Peru and France on the new Lima-Paris Action Agenda to catalyse action on climate change to further increase ambition before 2020 and to support the 2015 agreement.