ParlAmericas participates in COP26, the GLOBE COP26 Legislators Summit, and the IPU COP26 Parliamentary Meeting
This year marks the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also known as COP26, which will convene negotiators, government representatives, parliamentarians, civil society, and the private sector as well as official observer organizations such as ParlAmericas in Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK), under the presidency of the UK and in partnership with Italy. ParlAmericas will be represented by Senator the Honourable Rosa Galvez (Canada), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change (PNCC) and Senator Raúl Bolaños-Cacho Cué (Mexico), Vice-President for North America of the PNCC who will also be participating in his capacity as member of the national delegation of Mexico. During the weeks of October 31, 2021, to November 12, 2021, there will be numerous sessions covering various climate change mitigation and adaptation themes in addition to the COP negotiations to generate commitments for more ambitious and inclusive climate action to achieve the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21.
“Parliamentarians have a crucial responsibility to oversee the executive branch to ensure the efficient and effective use of expenditures, laws, policies, and programmes for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and national climate commitments,” states Senator Bolaños, as he speaks to the importance of incorporating parliamentary perspectives in climate debates. “I am honoured to participate at COP26 as part of the national delegation of Mexico. The integration of parliamentarians at these negotiations provides an opportunity to build the consensus necessary to achieve ambitious climate action.”
On the margins of COP26, Senator Galvez will participate at the COP26 Legislators Summit hosted by GLOBE and the Scottish Parliament, a parliamentary gathering to facilitate the exchange of innovations and good practices among legislators from across the world, being held virtually and in-person November 5 – 6, 2021 in Edinburgh, UK. As part of her involvement, in a session featuring a keynote address by Dr. Marcelo Carvalho de Andrade, Founder of ProNatural and Co-Founder of Earth Capital (global), she will speak in the panel alongside Professor Dan Etsy from Yale University to address the financial realities of achieving national net zero decarbonisation, investing in climate change adaptation and reconciling loss and damage, in the face of COVID-19 and debt recovery. She will discuss the need to ensure that businesses and investors align themselves and support the achievement of climate commitments through legislative innovation in climate finance. Senator Galvez will likewise present at the Inter-Parliamentary Union COP26 Parliamentary Meeting to deliver her expert opinion on climate change and a clean recovery, including the key findings from her white paper on Building Forward Better: A Clean and Just Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Reflecting on her participation, Senator Galvez noted: “I am pleased to represent ParlAmericas at COP26 and these parliamentary gatherings to discuss how as parliamentarians we can ensure that the agreements decided in these negotiations are fulfilled and remain prioritized in the public agenda, public budget, and legislative proposals, as well as hold government accountable to the advice and warnings of the scientific and academic community. We cannot ignore the warnings made by the IPCC physical science report and the NDC synthesis report that current climate action is not sufficient to meet the Paris Agreement and that countries need to scale up their efforts to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, namely by rapidly phasing out fossil fuels.”
