Paris COP21: Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we act…

The Urban Observer

This December, I joined almost 40 members of the IISD Reporting Servicesteam in Paris, to cover the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations at the 21^st Conference of the Parties (COP21) and other ongoing events at the COP. My team covered the Rio Conventions Pavilion – linking the 3 UN conventions on biodiversity, climate change and sustainable land management. Of course most attention (and rightfully so) centered on the +2 weeklong negotiations, resulting in the historic and universally adopted Paris Agreementby nearly 200 parties.

COP21 celebration Laurence Tubiana, COP21/CMP11 Presidency; UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres; UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; COP21/CMP11 President Laurent Fabius, Foreign Minister, France; and President François Hollande, France, celebrate the adoption of the Paris Agreement (Photo: IISD RS/ENB Kiara Worth)

Each day we arrived at 10:00, often leaving around midnight, after publishing daily reports. To say that it was an exhausting, exhilarating, jam-packed 2 weeks is an understatement. I’m…

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Author: Andy Nolan

An experienced director-level professional with expertise in sustainable development, cities, universities, governance, policy and strategy. 15 years of experience working in the field of sustainability in both the private and public sector. Has worked within a local authority, in multi-authority partnerships locally and nationally. Experience in higher education across four universities in the UK plus representative bodies. Particular areas of interest and expertise include; energy; transport; climate change; waste management; air quality; decentralised energy; education for sustainability; smart cities; knowledge transfer; research. View all posts by Andy Nolan

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