The Global Climate UN - COP24 in Katowice ended in success.
Negotiators from 196 countries and the European Union worked for two weeks on the Katowice Climate Package, implementing the Paris Agreement.
More than a dozen intense meetings enabled negotiations to be successful on different topics regarding principles aimed at implementing the Paris Agreement, which was signed in 2015. For two weeks, a wide range of issues were discussed - some fundamental, others very detailed and technical - which gave birth to a complex and difficult document. Finance, transparency and adaptation are some of its aspects.
"We have been working on this package for three years. When we have to deal with positions of almost 200 Parties, it is not easy to find an agreement concerning a multi-aspect and technical deal. Under these circumstances, each step forward was a great achievement. And I thank you for that. We can be proud of ourselves" said the COP24 President Michał Kurtyka during the plenary session concluding the summit. "Our common efforts didn't consist solely of producing texts or defending national interests. We were conscious of our responsibility to people and commitment for the fate of Earth, which is our home and the home of future generations who will come after us" he added.
In Katowice, within the framework of COP24, many heads of state, government and almost 100 Ministers of the Environment and of Foreign Affairs from all over the world were present. Thanks to the consensus, which has been agreed on by the Parties because of their commitment, Katowice has become, after Kyoto and Paris, another milestone on the way towards a sustainable global climate policy. In the Katowice Rules, different parties adopted a path that will be followed by each of them when it comes to stepping up actions for climate protection.
"I can say it aloud now - interests of all the parties have been taken into account in the Katowice Package in a sustainable and honest way", said the COP24 President Michał Kurtyka. "But, more importantly, its impact on the world will be positive. Thanks to it, we have taken a big step towards achieving the ambitions set in the Paris Agreement. Ambitions thanks to which our children will look back at some point and consider that their parents made the right decisions in an important historical moment."
The Polish Presidency at COP24 also initiated three declarations, which have been broadly supported by the Parties. On the first day at COP24 President Andrzej Duda made a statement about the just transformation based on solidarity. Its adoption was the most important point of the Summit of Heads of States and Governments. The next day, a common initiative of Poland and the UK Katowice Partnership for Electromobility, presented in the presence of the UN Secretary General António Guterres, was presented by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the COP24 President Michał Kurtyka. In the second half of the conference the "Forests for Climate" declaration was announced. The Minister of the Environment Henryk Kowalczyk, COP24 President Michał Kurtyka, and Paola Deda representing the UNECE took part in the event.