Pre-COP25 Climate Negotiations Conclude in Costa Rica

Stronger attention to social inclusiveness and nature-based solutions, little progress on ambition

October 10, 2019

San José – This week Costa Rica convened a “preCOP” climate conference to enable environment ministers and lead climate negotiators to exchange views on several key issues that will be at the core of the 2019 UN Climate Conference held in Chile in December (COP25). The four key themes on the agenda were: ambition, market mechanisms, gender, and loss and damage. While these meetings usually involved a few hundred governmental representatives, Costa Rica made an extra effort to convene an inclusive conference that included higher-than-usual participation by civil society.

With social inclusiveness and nature-based solutions featured prominently throughout the conference and ministerial statements, the preCOP echoed the growing recognition that human rights and ecosystems must be front and central for effective climate action. The preCOP included a workshop on the integration of human rights in future climate commitments.

CIEL Senior Attorney Sebastien Duyck issued the following statement:

“Throughout the preCOP, the need to keep temperature increase below 1.5ºc was stressed consistently as the only acceptable objective for all Parties to the Paris Agreement – demonstrating that Parties fully accept the findings of the IPCC. However, this recognition is in stark contrast to the reality that the major emitting countries are doing far too little to increase the ambition of their climate commitments. Parties must urgently deliver on the ambition needed to limit warming to 1.5ºc if they are serious about protecting human rights in the face of climate change. Effective public participation in climate policy planning and a greater focus on nature-based solutions are critical to fill this ambition gap.”