00:00We can now bring in Lola Vallejo, Director of the Diplomacy Program at the European Climate Foundation.
00:07Thank you so much for joining us on the program today.
00:09You will be heading to Brazil for this summit.
00:13What are some of the main priorities for you?
00:22We seem to be having audio difficulties with Lola.
00:26Lola, if you could try and speak once again, we'll try and fix that.
00:31The priority for the upcoming summit is for countries to come with increased commitments
00:38and actually to take stock of where commitments to date are taking us
00:43and really grappling with the gap between where countries' commitments take us
00:49and where we should be going to meet the overall climate objectives.
00:54We know that these are insufficient to ward off the worst effects of climate change.
01:02And so we'll need to come to Bilem for a renewed sense of ambition and implementation
01:07and not let the U.S. retreats contaminate international climate action.
01:14Because we're having the U.S. retreat at a time when we're having European countries
01:19belt tighten on a number of fronts.
01:22You must be aware of this as well.
01:23How do countries in the global south explain to the developed world that this is a real problem?
01:30I speak to family in India who are telling me the monsoon has stretched on for six months now,
01:34over six months.
01:36Right now, as we're speaking, we see the Philippines battered by Asia's worst typhoon this year
01:43and now it's heading to Vietnam.
01:45So these countries are really feeling the effects of climate change.
01:48Indeed, and actually climate change is being felt all across the world, including in Europe,
01:57which is one of the fastest warming continents on the planet.
02:02Of course, we have more resources to deal with those impacts.
02:06But I think the reality of climate change is now really tangible and is being felt.
02:13I think what I find interesting is in the global south, we see more and more climate change mitigation
02:20also becoming an economic and a growth story rather than also an environmental problem.
02:28So I think there's two sides.
02:30The cops are a moment where you talk about the justice aspect
02:34and how are historical polluters contributing to global south, you know, basically catching up on the race
02:41and having the means to take part in the economic revolution.
02:46But in many places, you'll have, for instance, Pakistan installing solar power at record rates
02:51that would really, you know, make European countries blush.
02:56So I feel like it's now a global race and one that is actually being led by China,
03:02which owns, you know, more than 70 percent of global battery production and 80 percent of solar production.
03:08You made an interesting point that us in Europe, too, we feel the effects of climate change.
03:13I mean, each month seems to be hotter than the last.
03:16And even the winter right now, it hasn't really kicked in.
03:19So Europe is feeling the pressure, the moves and pledges from European states.
03:26Do they go far enough, in your opinion?
03:29So I would say that the latest political compromise of environment ministers
03:35to meet 90 percent reduction by 2040 is a huge commitment.
03:43And there's an intermediary target that is going to be brought forward to Belem as Europe's contribution.
03:49I think it really shows that Europe is still committed.
03:53Of course, there's, you know, some caveats and some compromises that had to be made to get to that political result,
04:01because a lot of countries showed concerns around competitiveness, prices of energy and national circumstances.
04:08And so it will really matter how the Commission implements legislation that really allows Europe to meet this target.
04:17But I would say that overall, Europe has really stepped up and can come to a cup with a decent contribution,
04:25one that is if it hits the further, the highest part of the range and, you know, is going to be really, really good for in terms of environmental integrity.
04:39Lola, very briefly, what do you make of the fact that the leaders of the United States, China and India are giving this event a skip?
04:44Well, it's hardly surprising for the US because it was clear that they were going to skip, you know, cops no matter what.
04:53And by the way, you know, it's it's not impossible that he might change his mind also to to play a more obstructive role,
05:00as we've seen in a range of environmental negotiations in the last few months, including in the International Maritime Organization.
05:09I think for China, there's very little international travel.
05:15By and large, we'll have to see what comes out of the leaders summit.
05:19But I'm confident that there will be a high level representation, including from Europe and Brazil,
05:25to show that multilateralism is is still functioning and it will be a test.
05:30Let's make no mistake there.
05:33Lola, we're going to leave it. Thank you so much for joining us on the program.
05:35And that was Lola Vallejo joining us now as the government.
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