Final Declaration – A Call for Greater Ambition

 

The International Symposium on Climate Change concluded with a large share, the three days of work in Rome. The twenty world experts on climate change, convened by the Italian Foundation and the New Policy Forum under the guide of the United Nations consultant, Martin Lees, will share the final document in the following days.

“The science is clear and compelling that even the 2° C target is no longer enough. The stability of the earth system is at stake. We have to rebalance the relationship between humankind and Mother Earth. This demands that Paris must raise the level of ambition. Critically it must push for transformative change. Incremental adjustments are insufficient.
Humanity has enormous capabilities of creativity, knowledge, and skills to master this challenge. The beginning of this transformation are already emerging around the world – from community action, city networks, spiritual groups to investors moving out of fossil fuels. So what needs to be done in Paris and beyond: leaders and negotiators need to take bold decisions and act now with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality in 2050; putting people first in policy making is now essential; most of all, this requires a people-centred approach to progress and sustainability based on human rights and involving special measures to protect vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The 21 century needs to be the new era of global cooperation where nations and communities work collectively to attain a sustainable carbon-neutral future”.

Martin Lees, Angelo Schiano, Giulietto Chiesa

 

International Expert Meeting
on Climate Change and World Development

Rome, wednesday 27^th to friday 29^th May 2015

The Meeting will take place in Rome at the Temple of Hadrian from 27^th to 29^th May 2015 to review the interlinkages between climate change and world development and to propose broad lines of action to improve human wellbeing and security in the new conditions of the 21st Century.

Around 10 international experts and practitioners will attend with experts and personalities from Italy. They will have deep practical experience of issues related to climate change and of inter-related fields such as biodiversity, energy, water, oceans, poverty, development, peace and security and economic growth and finance and will review key elements of a strategy for strong and urgent action in order to make Paris 2015 a real breakthrough and a landmark on the road to face the realities and risks of climate change so as to preserve the prospects for present and future generations.

It is planned that a more substantial international conference will be held in Rome in March 2016 to review the outcomes of Paris 2015 and propose further action.

The Meeting will be sponsored by the New Policy Forum under the guidance and with the participation of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, together with the Italiani Foundation and the European Space Agency in consultation with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. It will build on the outcome of the conference organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences “Protect the Earth: Dignify Humanity” on 28^th April and will draw on the conclusions of the High Level Task Force on Climate Change convened by President Gorbachev with the support of Green Cross International and on the action proposals contained in its report: “Action to Face the Urgent Realities of Climate Change” which was presented in the framework of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development “Rio + 20” in June 2012.

The Participants will review the crucial relationships between human activities and the natural world and position the climate issue within a wider strategy to enhance equitable and sustainable world development, human rights and peace. To do so, they will first define the realities, risks and consequences of climate change, based on science and evidence, and then focus on the interlinkages of climate justice, equitable and inclusive development and peace. They will review the major transformations needed to address the causes of climate change and then define policies and instruments for strong climate action in four areas: development and dissemination of technologies and innovation; building national capacities and resilience; mobilising climate finance for transformational change; and revitalising International cooperation for rapid action to avert the risks of dangerous climate change

By integrating policies for action on climate issues within the wider social, economic, finance, development and security agenda, the Conference can stimulate discussion of how to transform established patterns of behavior so as to reconcile the rising scale of human activities with the preservation of a viable global environment.

The Expert Meeting should help to broaden support for a strong international agreement in Paris at COP21 and will underline the risks and costs of further delay and the imperative for rapid and effective action. Finally, the participants will consider and adopt the short Statement which will be delivered to key personalities and institutions across the world.

• Symposium Agenda 27 – 29 May 2015

 

INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS

 

	Valerio Calzolaio, Italy: Four times member of the Italian Parliament, Former Vice Minister of the Environment. Former professor in Paris, Exeter, and of Constitutional Law at the University of Macerata from 1990-1992. Formerly advisor to the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Drought and Desertification (UNCCD).
	Dr. Giulietto Chiesa, Italy: journalist and politician, formerly a Member of the European Parliament; held a number of important positions in the Italian Communist Party before it was dissolved in 1991. Formerly also a substitute for the Committee on Culture and Education and a member of the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.
	Dr. Mark Doherty: European Space Agency Head, ESA/EO Exploitation Development Division. Current head of ESA's Earth Observation exploitation division, based at ESRIN Frascati, Italy. Mark joined ESA in 1986 and worked on the ERS-1, ERS-2 and ENVISAT missions, before taking charge of exploitation elements of ESA's EO Envelope Programme. More recently Dr. Doherty has lead the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) which delivers consistent long-term, satellite-based observation records of "Essential Climate Variables".
	Dr. Frederick Dubee, Canada: Senior Advisor, Global Compact, Executive Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations.Fred Dubee is a professor at the European Peace University, Austria, honorary professor at the Beijing Genomics Institute, China and lectures internationally at academic institutions and research institutes. Vice-Chair International Green Economy Association (IGEA) and Chairman of the Annual World Congress of Biodiversity (BioD-2013).
	Ian T. Dunlop, Australia: Former senior international oil, gas and coal industry executive. Chair of the Australian Coal Association, 1987-88, and of the Australian Experts Group on Emissions Trading and CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors from 1997-2001.
	Grazia Francescato, Italy: Environmental leader and journalist. She has served as President of WWF Italy, President of the Italian Greens and Spokesperson for the European Greens. She is also a former member of the Italian Parliament for the Green Party.
	Dr. Tim Jenkins, UK: Director, responsible for the Great Transition Project and External affairs, the New Economics Foundation; former Policy Director at Friends of the Earth and Head of Sustainable Economics at the UK Sustainable Development Commission.
	Georgios Kostakos, Greece: Advisor with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat for COP20; former Senior Adviser and Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Global Sustainability Panel and climate change focal point
	Martin Lees, UK: Adviser to the President of COP20; Rector Emeritus, UN University for Peace; former UNASG for Science and Technology; Moderator Gorbachev Task Force on Climate Change; Former Secretary General of the Club of Rome. He was responsible for the design and launching of the OECD InterFutures” Project in 1974 and founder of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.
	Dr. Alexander Likhotal, Russia: President, Green Cross International.  Following Gorbachev’s perestroika and being a well known expert in the field of European security, he received a proposal to become the chief analyst of NATO politics in the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU - one of the Soviet foreign policy co-ordination bodies.
	Jeremy Leggett, UK: Founding President of Solarcentury Electric Co; Chairman of Carbon Tracker, Author and Activist. A British green-energy entrepreneur who is founding director of Solarcentury, the UK’s largest independent solar electric company; founder and Chairman of SolarAid, a charity set up with 5% of Solarcentury’s annual profits; and Chairman of CarbonTracker, a financial-sector think-tank warning of carbon-fuel asset-stranding risk to the capital markets, colloquially known as the carbon bubble.
	Flavio Lotti, Italy: Organiser of the March for Peace Perugia-Assisi as well as National Coordinator of the Table of Peace for 16 years since 1996, which is the largest Italian pacifist network made up of hundreds of groups. He is also the Director of Coordination of Local Authorities for Peace and Human Rights an association of 704 Municipalities since its founding in 1986.
	Dr. Ennio Maccari, Italy: President of ANTA (National Association for the Environment). Professor of Biology at La Sapienza University.
	Dr. Khalid Malik, Pakistan: Former Director of the UN Human Development Report Office to 2014; UN Resident Coordinator in China, 2003 – 2010. He is an international civil servant with a professional background in economics and has held a variety of senior management and substantive positions at the United Nations and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
	Francesco Martone, Italy: Currently head of  Foreign Policy of the Rifundacione Comunista Party. Formerly Chairman of Greenpeace Italy, former independent senator of Liguria for the green party. Re-elected as senator of the constituency of Sardinia in 2006. Mr Martone has taken part in expeditions in the Mediterranean as well as to Siberia and has been involved in numerous campaigns related to development and biodiversity conservation as member of the Sdebitarsi Scientific Committee.
	Dr. Dirk Messner, Germany: Director, German Development Institute; Co-Chair, German Advisory Council on Global Change; Co-Director, Center for Advanced Study on Global Cooperation Research, University Duisburg-Essen
	Serena Pellegrino, Italy: Member of Parliament for the SEL party, Head of the Environment, Territory and Pubblic Works Commission.
	Dr. Teresa Ribera, Spain: Director, Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, Paris; She was Secretary of State for Climate Change in Spain’s Government between 2008 and 2011, responsible for environment and climate policies as well as the national meteorological agency. Between September 2012 and June 2013 she has been working in the renewable energy industry, on the deployment of PV solutions.
	Bill Ritter jr., USA: Former Governor, Colorado;  Director, Center for the New Energy Economy, Colorado State University; Chair, Report to the President on  Presidential and Executive Agency Actions to drive Clean Energy in America. Before his election in 2006, he served as the district attorney for Denver. He was the first native-born governor of Colorado since 1975, as well as being the first Democratic governor to serve with a Democratic majority in the Colorado General Assembly in 50 years.
	Francesco Rutelli, Italy: Former Vice Premier in the centre-left coalition, former Minister of Culture, former mayor of Rome. He now dedicates all of his efforts to the Climate Change issue, since founding the centre for Sustainable Future.
	Dr. Roberto Savio, Italy:  President Emeritus, IPS. He is a journalist, communications expert, political commentator, activist for social and climate justice and advocate of global governance. He has spent most of his career with Inter Press Service (IPS), the news agency which he founded in 1964 along with Argentine journalist Pablo Piacentini.
	Dr. Angelo Schiano, Italy: President Fondazione Italiani. The Foundation was created under the initiative of Dr. Angelo Schiano and is a "not for profit" organisation aiming to contribute to freedom of expression and the civil debate by promoting the right to discuss ideas and positions without constraints .
	Gianni Silvestrini, Italy: Former advisor of premier Romano Prodi for Green Economy issues, for ten years he has been the editor in Chief of Qualenergia, the daily newspaper of green economy and green energies. In 2014 he has been elected President of Green Building Council Italy and of FREE, the Coordination of 27 Italian Associations on renewable energies and energy efficiency
	Dr. Dimitri Zenghelis, UK: Co-head Climate Policy, Grantham Research Institute, LSE;  Chief Economist for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate; Head of the Stern Review team on the Economics of Climate Change, 2005- 2007.