(November 14, 2022) Thirteen parliamentarians from ten countries in Latin America and the Caribbean signed a joint declaration, at the event “Protagonist Latin American and Caribbean Parliaments: mobilizing climate financing”, held on November 10 in a hybrid manner, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with the support of the European Union, through the Euroclima+ Program, and the Open Society Foundations (OSF).
From the Euroclima+ Pavilion at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), in the city of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, and through a digital platform, parliamentarians participating in the Parliamentary Observatory of Climate Change and Just Transition (OPCC) that belong to diverse ideological currents but that share the commitment to the fight against climate change signed a joint declaration that expresses the leading role of parliaments in the just transition to sustainable and low-carbon economies especially in terms of climate finance.
The OPCC arose from the identification of the need to strengthen inter-parliamentary cooperation so that those responsible for formulating policies can review and approve the legislation relevant to said transition through a Parliamentary Observatory on the subject.
In 2021, the Euroclima+ Pavilion at COP26 announced the creation of the OPCC, with the aim of constituting a shared information tool on the status of environmental legislation and parliamentary treatment in the region. Since then, the OPCC has identified 271 environmental laws in force (423 if decrees are included) and 189 environmental bills under concrete treatment in the last two years in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
A year later, parliamentary leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean met again, at COP27, with the double objective of: (i) discussing the treatment of financing in the climate legislation of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean; and (ii) express the common voice of Latin American and Caribbean parliamentarians on climate finance through the symbolic signing of a joint declaration.
The joint declaration signed in the framework of COP27 reaffirms the commitment to the co-construction of a specific agenda of actions that promote access to information and the design of climate policies. In this sense, the OPCC will continue to promote the exchange of experiences and proposals, the monitoring of legislative discussions and the dissemination of government actions in the area of just transition.
In addition, the statement outlines the main preliminary findings of the OPCC’s first policy bulletin, which is under development, which will present a comparative study of climate change framework legislation in the countries represented in the OPCC, including the issue of climate finance.
“Our region, despite being one of the least responsible, historically, for greenhouse gas emissions and, in turn, being one of the most impacted by climate change, is making a substantial contribution to the objectives of the Agreement on Paris, to the setting of greenhouse gas mitigation goals and the constitution of an institutional framework that promotes, in particular, sustainable finance”, the statement states.
In addition, the parliamentarians who sign the declaration commit to “promote the development of the financial structure that allows the collection of public and private funds, as well as international cooperation funds, for adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage projects, as well as work on urban and rural resilience, apt to face the climate crisis” and with “articulating mechanisms to monitor the resources granted to our countries for the fight against climate change under principles of effectiveness, efficiency, legality, transparency, impartiality, reliability and quality”.
The event was moderated by Santiago Lorenzo (Head of ECLAC’s Climate Change Economics Unit) and was attended, in person, by Sen. Jaques Wagner (President of the Environment Commission of the Federal Senate of Brazil), Sen. Gladys González (President of the Environment and Sustainable Development Commission of the Senate of the Argentine Nation), Dip. Ximena García (Secretary of the Commission for Natural Resources and Conservation of the Human Environment, Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation), Rep. Juan Carlos Lozada (Representative of the Chamber of Congress of the Republic of Colombia) and the Honorable Mr. Melvin ” Mitch” Turnbull (Minister of Natural Resources and Labor, British Virgin Islands). Virtually, Dip participated. Maximiliano Ferraro (Member of the Commission for Natural Resources and Conservation of the Human Environment, Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation), Sen. Cecilia Isabel Requena Zárate (President of the Committee on Land and Territory, Natural Resources and the Environment of the Senate of the Plurinational State of Bolivia) and Dip. Juan Federico Ruiz (Member of the Special Commission for the Environment, House of Representatives, Uruguay).
The parliamentarians signing the joint declaration are:
- National Senator Gladys González, President of the Environment and Sustainable Development Commission Senate of the Argentine Nation
- Senator Jaques Wagner, President of the Environment Commission of the Brazilian Senate
- Senator Cecilia Isabel Requena Zárate, President of the Committee on Land and Territory, Natural Resources and the Environment of the Senate of the Plurinational State of Bolivia
- Representative Juan Carlos Lozada, Representative to the House of Congress of the Republic of Colombia
- Deputy Ximena García, Secretary of the Commission for Natural Resources and Conservation of the Human Environment, Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation
- Deputy Maximiliano Ferraro, Member of the Commission for Natural Resources and Conservation of the Human Environment, Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation
- Deputy Rodrigo Agostinho, Member of the Environment and Sustainable Development Commission Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
- Senator Ximena Órdenes Neira, Member of the Commission for Future Challenges, Science, Technology and Innovation, Senate of Chile
- Mr. Gwendell Mercelina, Member of Parliament Curaçao
- Deputy Samuel Andrés Pérez Alvarez, Deputy of the Seed Legislative Bloc Congress of the Republic of Guatemala
- Honorable Mrs. Veronica Dorsette Hector, Parliamentary Secretary Montserrat
- The Honorable Mr. Melvin “Mitch” Turnbull, Minister of Natural Resources and Labor, British Virgin Islands
- Deputy Mr. Federico Ruiz, Member of the Special Commission for the Environment Chamber of Representatives of Uruguay
Access the OPCC: https://www.cepal.org/opcc
The event was recorded and can be accessed from: https://youtu.be/uSwmDhka2Bg
