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MADRID and WASHINGTON, DC (December 20, 2006)
-- The Club of Madrid and the United Nations Foundation
announced today the formation of an independent
High-Level Task Force on Climate Change to develop
and propose a new framework for a post-Kyoto agreement
on climate change through the Gleneagles Dialogue
process. The Task Force will be chaired by Ricardo
Lagos, President of the Club of Madrid, and Timothy
E. Wirth, President of the UN Foundation, and
facilitated by Mohamed El-Ashry, former CEO and
Chairman of the Global Environment Facility.
The Club of Madrid consists of 66 Members, democratic
former Heads of State and Government from some
50 countries around the world. It offers a neutral,
yet uniquely equipped combination of political
experience and substantive expertise to consider
major global issues affecting sustainable democratic
development. At its recent Annual Conference,
the Members of the Club of Madrid resolved to
work on the issue of climate change as an area
of global concern which urgently requires leadership
and international cooperation.
The Task Force will offer recommendations to
the Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and
Sustainable Development, launched at the G8 summit
in Gleneagles in July 2005 as an informal forum
complementing the formal negotiations within the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The
Dialogue involves 20 countries – the G8
plus Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia,
Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, South Africa,
and South Korea, as well as the European Commission
The Dialogue will report back to the G8 in 2008.
“We are fast approaching a tipping point
on global warming, and it is time for more concerted
action to avoid dangerous impacts on our economic
and environmental systems,” said Wirth,
who led the U.S. climate team as Undersecretary
of State for Global Affairs under President Clinton.
“The basic building blocks of an international
agreement are readily identifiable – but
political will and consensus have been elusive.
Together with the Club of Madrid, we’re
creating this task force to harness the wisdom
of former world leaders and demonstrate that a
political consensus is possible – before
it is too late.”
“We know that a sustainable energy future
is possible and the costs are not out of reach,
but increased political will and greater collaboration
between developed and developing countries are
missing,” said Lagos, who served as President
of Chile from 2000 to 2006. “We hope that
by using this forum of high-level dialogues, we’ll
be able to make clear, concise recommendations
on the next steps to mitigate climate change and
empower our leaders to move quickly and forcefully
on this important issue.”
“The Club of Madrid brings great political
strength to this effort. As former Presidents
and Prime Ministers, they have had to make difficult
decisions in many different areas. They know firsthand
what the difficult political questions are and
thus can offer unique added value to this very
particular and major challenge,” said El-Ashry,
now a Senior Fellow at the UN Foundation. “The
UN Foundation is providing support and leadership
for a dialogue that will need to take into account
the concerns and needs of different regions, levels
of development, and the role that parties involved
– in government, politics and institutions
– should and can play in stopping climate
change.”
The High-Level Task Force will have a maximum
membership of 20 eminent persons, widely recognized
for their ability to influence public opinion
and shape agendas on global issues. It will include
Members of the Club of Madrid, former leaders
of major intergovernmental organizations, and
renowned representatives of civil society, the
private sector, and academia. Membership will
reflect both a geographical balance and the voice
of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders
in the climate change challenge.
The Task Force on Climate Change will address
a number of key issues including:
o Effective targets and timetables for developed
and developing countries.
o Market-based mechanisms, carbon trading, and
a more efficient Clean Development Mechanism.
o Flexible intellectual property rights and competitiveness
rules to allow for innovation and transfer of
clean energy technologies between developed and
developing countries.
o Assistance to developing countries for adoption
of clean and efficient energy technologies.
o Adaptation, its link with development, and financing
mechanisms.
o Enhanced investment and collaboration on research,
development, and deployment of cleaner and lower-cost
energy technologies.
In 2007:
o Members of the Task Force will meet on at least
two occasions in advance of the Berlin Gleneagles
meeting in September and the Conference of the
Parties to the Framework Convention in Bali in
December to exchange views and draw up recommendations.
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o To provide technical input and inform the Task
Force deliberations, two expert roundtables with
approximately 20-30 participants will be convened
prior to each of the two Task Force sessions to
advise on the most critical topics of debate.
In addition, a multi-stakeholder consultation
will be organized to facilitate broader participation
and enhance the output of the Task Force process.
The end result of the Task Force’s work
will be a concise statement of principles and
objectives to guide international negotiations
toward a post-Kyoto agreement on climate change,
particularly within the desired, accelerated timetable,
well before the treaty’s expiration in 2012.
A review of the results of this
process and the outcome of the Gleneagles Dialogue
meeting in September 2007 will guide the Task
Force in charting a course for 2008, with a focus
on the final meeting of the Gleneagles Dialogue
in Tokyo in the fall of 2008.
About the Club of Madrid
The Club of Madrid is an independent organization
dedicated to strengthening democracy around the
world by drawing on the unique experience and
resources of its Members – 66 democratic
former heads of state and government. www.clubmadrid.org
About the United Nations Foundation
The UN Foundation was created in 1998 to support
UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation builds
and implements public-private partnerships to
address the world’s most pressing problems
and also works to broaden support for the UN through
advocacy and public outreach. www.unfoundation.org.
Press Contacts
Katherine Miller, Communications Director, United
Nations Foundation
(o) 202.778.1622 (c) 202.247.7280 (e) kmiller@unfoundation.org
Barbara González del Valle, Communications,
Club of Madrid
(o) 34. 91. 154 82 45 (e) bgonzalez@clubmadrid.org
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