Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Minister for Ecology, Sustainable development, Transport and Housing, and the Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, yesterday gave the go-ahead to the Paris-Nairobi Climate Initiative on access to clean energy. The conference in Paris brought together more than 300 participants from 90 of the States most vulnerable to climate change, particularly in Africa; more than 40 ministers made the journey.
The initiative enabled progress on three key subjects:
A joint declaration by the co-presidency sums up the discussions and provides for the creation of a pilot group whose aims are to provide high-level political support for issues around access to clean energy, stimulate reflexion and dialogue between the different players, strengthen cooperative approaches to developing projects and help to implement them.
Several countries have already committed themselves to joining, including Argentina, Algeria, Senegal, Gabon, Morocco, Mauritius, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as several international organizations.
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet invited all the countries present wishing to join them to do so.
“This conference brings hope now, at the start of the 2011-2012 period, which is crucial for the fight against climate change,” said Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. “Our goal in providing concrete solutions now is to help make the international climate conference in Durban in December the setting for not only negotiations but also action.”
The Minister recalled France’s commitment to defining and implementing innovative financing, a theme which is a priority of the French G20 presidency.
The Paris-Nairobi Initiative will meet again at ministerial level in Kenya in 2012 to continue making progress towards access to energy for all while contributing to the fight against climate change.