In this sense, Ribera has indicated that the celebration of COP25 in Spain under the Presidency of Chile is an opportunity to mobilize civil society, companies and administrations around the fight against climate change.
This has been the year in which citizens have raised their voices, mostly, demanding urgent action, and based on Science, to address the climate crisis. With the Book of Rules of the Paris Agreement closed, COP25 opens a new phase in climate negotiations to materialize the messages of the street and science in contributions to fight climate change more ambitious than the current one, and aligned with the objective of the Paris Agreement, that the temperature does not increase more than 2ºC at the end of the century with respect to pre-industrial levels, and if possible it does not exceed 1.5ºC. Ribera hopes that COP25 will be the beginning of a cycle change, and will be the decisive milestone for countries to make more ambitious contributions in 2020 and the world will reach the Glasgow summit (COP26) next year with the duties done .
Therefore, Ribera has pointed out that the first message he expects to come out of this climate summit is in line with the motto of the conference: It is "Time to Act". "We already have a governance framework, the Paris Agreement, and a rule book to make it work effectively, it is time for the action to materialize and become visible," said the minister, who has stressed that " the will to act of society as a whole is imposed, against those who want to delay the action "
It is essential that this message end at the end of COP25, because "we have lived a long time with our backs to planetary boundaries, but now we know that progress, prosperity and development have to do not only with the industrial agenda, but also with that of the finance, technology and environmental, "said Ribera.
Preparations
Regarding the progress of the work of organizing a conference of these characteristics, Ribera explained that it works against the clock to meet the deadlines. The COP25 will occupy a total of 7 pavilions, with more than 100,000 square meters, as well as an additional space of about 13,000 square meters in its Convention Centers and meeting rooms, prepared to accommodate the attendees of the summit.
Progress has already begun in the design of interior spaces, whose assembly will begin this weekend. As usual in the organization of climate summits, there are two different areas where different events and meetings are held: a blue zone, focused on the formal events and negotiations of the United Nations and a green zone, the space dedicated to The participation of civil society.
The voice of civil society
The Blue Zone is the space administered by the United Nations and in which the negotiation sessions of the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25), the fifteenth meeting of the United Nations Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP15) and the second meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 2), as well as the parallel events and events of the official United Nations agenda. This is the zone of the multilateral negotiation proper, where there are the two plenaries and the meeting rooms for the negotiation and the rooms and pavilions of the delegations, where Spain will have a delegation room.
The Green Zone, of about 3,000 m2, is the citizen space, meeting and environmental awareness, open throughout the conference, with which Spain wants to contribute to facilitate the participation of all civil society. It is an open dialogue pavilion with spaces for all civil society actors with several differentiated areas:
- Sectorial Action Space for the Climate, reserved for those sponsors of the COP25 who will have their own non-commercial exhibition space, but for activities and services linked to the themes of the COP25. It includes an area for companies and economic institutions that wish to exhibit their activity.
- Open central square space "Agora": Versatile modular space, meeting point for all spaces in the area. Activities related to the topics addressed in the Blue Zone of the COP25 that connect the two spaces will be scheduled daily at the Agora. The activities to be carried out may include talks, debates, meetings, training activities, workshops, work spaces, exhibitions, as well as cultural expressions, among others.
- Organized civil society space: Open and flexible space for activities.
- Youth Space: Open and flexible space for educational and awareness activities.
- Innovation, Science and University Space: Open and flexible space where innovative initiatives will be shown.
- Chile-Spain space, led by both governments that can serve as a more concrete showcase for the presentation and debate of actions on both sides of the Atlantic.
The programming of activities in each space will be coordinated by one or several organizations representative of its field (youth, innovation, civil society …). Participation requests are managed through a form, which is available on the MITECO website, and can be submitted until November 17.
Green Castellana
The message of the climate summit must resonate beyond the enclosure where the summit is held. In this sense, the Minister for the Ecological Transition in functions has explained that a specific action is underway along the main axis of the city, the Paseo de la Castellana. A proposal called: Castellana Verde.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition, in coordination with the Secretary of State of Global Spain and the High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, appeals to all public and private institutions based in the Paseo de la Castellana that want to join this great mobilization in defense of the climate.
Likewise, Teresa Ribera has moved today in two meetings of the Environmental Advisory Council (CAMA) and of the Sectorial Conference of the Environment the invitation to all the regional and local administrations, and to the organizations of the society to join this Agenda Green and organize events related to COP25, so that the message of climate action and ambition resonates throughout our geography.
In addition, young people will have a key participation in this COP, first of all because they are one of the groups accredited as observers within the Blue Zone. And also because the weekend before the start of COP25, from November 29 to December 1, Madrid will host the Youth Conference (COY), which will be held in the University City in collaboration with Madrid universities. This COY will be held in parallel in Chile, in the city of Valparaíso and in total will host about 1,500 participants in both countries.
Volunteers
Also, Ribera has reviewed the progress in other organizational and logistical issues of interest. He explained that work is being done intensively with the Madrid City Council, through the "Volunteers for Madrid" platform, which has already made a first call for volunteers who want to collaborate with the COP25, to which 400 people have reacted positively .
In addition, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will provide around 200 volunteers who were already trained for Chile and will come to Madrid, and 5 experienced United Nations volunteer coordinators. Volunteers will be distributed by zones: blue zone, green zone and specific points in the streets of Madrid (Atocha Station, Airport, Sol and Retiro Park (main entrance). Likewise, a United Nations training process is also planned for the volunteers on November 25 and 27.
All those who want to participate as volunteers can find the information on the website of the Madrid Volunteer (registration until November 20).
Progress has also been made in these days on housing issues. The Government of Spain has designated an official reservation center for COP25, a centralized hotel selection system to accommodate participants in accommodation with availability during all conference dates, and to ensure a stay as comfortable as possible to the delegates
A large number of accommodation options in multiple categories will be blocked until November 15, 2019. The reservation center will manage incoming requests in order of arrival. After the deadline mentioned above, all applications will be met according to availability. All these data and associated details are already available in the MITECO website.