Climate Change Will Change The Foundations Of the Economy
The Head of Government, Xavier Espot, has affirmed that Andorra has a firm commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions until achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. He did so in his speech at the Summit of the Climate of the United Nations, COP27, which is held in the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh. The head of government has vindicated the effects that climate change has on mountain areas and has appealed to the need to preserve high-altitude ecosystems to protect future generations that live in mountain areas.
In this sense, he has alerted the international community of the vulnerability of mountain ecosystems to the effects of climate change. He has also exposed the impact of climate change on Andorra, stressing that the increase in temperatures is rethinking the foundations of the territory’s economy for the coming decades, with certain negative effects for a country where its main attractions are nature, landscape, and biodiversity.
In this way, and with the purpose of giving visibility to the impacts of climate change in the mountain regions, the head of government has announced that Andorra has organized a ministerial meeting, which is planned for November 17, in the framework of COP27. It will be led by the Minister of Environment, Agriculture, and Sustainability, Silvia Calvó, and there will be discussions to provide effective solutions for these territories that are so vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In the same way, he has expressed Andorra’s willingness to work actively as a representative of the European region in the Steering Committee of the FAO Mountain Partnership.
During his speech, Espot also reaffirmed Andorra’s commitment to implement adaptation measures to alleviate and neutralize the emission of greenhouse gases to respond to the state of climate and ecological emergency. Thus, the head of government has explained that Andorra has recently approved the update of its determined contribution on a national scale, increasing the ambition to reduce emissions by the year 2030, following the provisions of the Glasgow climate pact adopted during the last COP 26 in the United Kingdom. The update sets the ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, against the scenario of the immobilist.
Although Andorra is responsible for less than 0.001% of global emissions, the head of government said, the commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is firm and for this reason after having published and submitted four biannual update reports, work is already underway on the preparation of the first biannual transparency report within the framework mandated by the Paris Agreement.
The Head of Government concluded his speech by expressing again the will and ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and implement adaptation measures through technological solutions and also through solutions based on nature, joining forces with local agents. A commitment, he said, that legitimizes Andorra to appeal to the rest of the nations to honor and comply with the provisions and the spirit of the agreement adopted in Paris in 2015. Finally, he added that “we cannot, once again, disappoint our citizens and especially young people, who expect concrete actions to protect the world we will bequeath to them.”
