2010 event
Overview
In October 2010 the Greek Government presented the launch of the Mediterranean Climate Change Initiative in collaboration with leaders from across the Mediterranean and with the support of the European Investment Bank.
Mediterranean Climate Change Initiative is designed to be an autonomous political initiative as well as a projects-based initiative eligible for Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) branding. It aims to accelerate the region’s responses to the impacts of climate change and lead by example the transition to a low carbon development model (please see the Vision Note for further details).
The Greek Government launched this initiative in recognition of the serious threats climate change poses to the region’s stability and prosperity, as well as the conviction that embracing a low carbon development model provides a unique opportunity to jointly address financial, energy and climate crises.
To formalise participation in this initiative, the Prime Minister of Greece invited leaders from across the Mediterranean to join him in signing a Declaration at the launch event on 22 October 2010 in Athens, Greece – a copy of the Declaration can be viewed at http://www.medclimatechangeinitiative.org/sites/default/files/Joint-Declaration.pdf.
Alongside this unequivocal demonstration of political will, the launch also provided an opportunity for political delegations to define the policy and project objectives of the initiative both at the regional level and in the context of the then forthcoming global negations at COP16. NGOs and leading Research Institutes on climate change were invited to help shape the projects and objectives.
With a combination of keynote speeches, ministerial panel discussions, public consultation sessions on the proposed projects, as well as closed sessions for political delegations on governance and policy positions, the agenda was designed to facilitate dialogue between governments, scientists and academics, Non-Governmental Organisations and business leaders on how the Mediterranean Climate Change Initiative accelerates and adds value to existing work on climate change in the region.
