13 December 2015
MOLLY Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West has welcomed the Paris Agreement which will see almost 200 countries pursue efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C; review progress every five years and provide $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020.
Molly Scott Cato said:
"What the Paris climate deal means is that the global economy has moved away from the fossil fuel era and onto a path towards a clean energy future. Making this transformation a reality will require widespread changes to the way we live and work, but before embarking on that endeavour we should take a moment to celebrate this unique and groundbreaking success for genuine global co-operation.
"I am also delighted to see the ambition to keep temperature warming within 1.5° coming back into the agreement alongside a commitment to return to the targets set today on a regular basis to ensure that policies become more ambitious over time."
Dr Scott Cato, who is also Green Party speaker on finance, addressed a conference in Paris before the summit on the dangers of 'privatising the climate'. Her concerns remain following the Paris Agreement.
She said:
"We must ensure that climate justice is a central part of the solution to climate change. This means we should not fund climate pledges through private finance, which will lock poorer countries into paying investors in richer countries. We need to fund climate solutions through a combination of public money and directly created global credit."