Leaders Event

Over 150 heads of state and government gathered in Paris at the UN climate change conference on Monday, 30 November, the largest group of leaders ever to attend a UN event in a single day.

In speech after speech, they provided political leadership and support to reach an ambitious and effective climate change agreement by December 11 that will set nations on the path to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future that keeps the average global temperature below two degrees Celsius.

In his opening speech, French President François Hollande stressed that never before had the stakes of an international conference been so high because the future of the planet itself was at stake.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised the unprecedented global response ahead of the conference in the shape of over 180 national climate actions plans submitted towards the Paris agreement. The countries together represent almost 95 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The UN chief said that this was a good start but that it was necessary to go much farther and much faster, if the global temperature rise was to be limited to below 2 degrees, beyond which climate impacts become more and more unmanageable.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who also holds the Presidency of COP 21, stressed the human face of climate change, recalling his encounters with people around the world directly affected by climate impacts. Hundreds of millions of people depended directly on the solutions to climate change that delegates will reach at this conference, he said.

For full statements made by the French President, the UN Secretary General and the French Foreign Minister please see here.

For full statements made at the Leaders Event, please see here.

High-Level Segment

New! List of Speakers for the High-Level Segment.

The High-Level Segment (HLS), to be attended by ministers and head of delegations, will be opened on Monday, 7 December 2015 at 10.00 a.m. to hear statements by representatives of groups and national statements by ministers and other heads of delegation during joint meetings of the COP and the CMP.

The HLS will continue hearing national statements on Tuesday, 8 December 2015. Statements from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations will also be delivered following national statements by ministers and heads of delegation.

The High-Level Segment will be held according to the following schedule:

Monday, 7 December

10.00 – 13.00	Statements on behalf of groups and national statements
15.00 – 19.00	National statements

Tuesday, 8 December

10.00 – 13.00	National statements
15.00	National statements and statements from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations

Organizational details

A total of four seats per delegation will be made available behind the nameplate of each Party for the HLS. Additional seats will be available at the back of the plenary room.

More information on the High-level Segment, including information on registration for the speakers list of the High-Level Segment, can be found in the Message to Parties.

The preliminary list of speakers which will include speakers who have registered and confirmed their wish to deliver a statement at the high-level segment of the COP and the CMP will be made available as of Thursday, 3 December 2015. The list will be provisionally divided into morning and afternoon segments to facilitate the organization of the order of speakers.

To see the UNFCCC process and meetings page on COP21/CMP11, please go to http://unfccc.int/meetings/paris_nov_2015/meeting/8926.php

Photo credit: UN Photo