02 June 2015 - The Philippine Embassy in Berlin joined Climate Change Commission Vice Chairperson and Secretary Mary Ann Lucille Sering, ministers and other high level officials from more than 30 countries and regional and international organizations in the 6th Petersberg Climate Dialogue held in Berlin from May 17 to 19. The theme of the dialogue was “Reaching for the Paris Outcome,” as it served as a lead-up to the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) 21 to be held in Paris in December 2015.
The Dialogue was co-chaired by Germany’s Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety Madame Barbara Hendricks and France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius.
Belonging to a group of countries most vulnerable to the effects of a warming planet, the Philippines pushed for innovative ways to start implementing climate action measures as soon as possible. Secretary Sering noted, in particular, that the five-year timeframe between 2015 and 2020 is crucial and could present a challenge in this regard. She emphasized the equal importance of mitigation and adaptation, and stressed the need to trigger more private sector interest in this area and to ensure private sector access to funding that would provide an enabling environment for them to be engaged.
The Petersberg Climate Dialogue concluded with keynote addresses from German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande, who both emphasized the need to have a binding climate agreement that would ultimately fulfill the objective of keeping the increase in global temperature levels to below 2 degrees Celsius, which all Parties agreed upon during the Cancun Conference. They also reiterated their commitment to work with all countries to ensure the success of COP 21 in Paris at the end of the year. END