During the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in New York last week, Luxembourg Minister for the Environment, Carole Dieschbourg, advocated the Subnational Global Leadership Memorandum of Understanding (Under 2 MOU), the initiatives which aims to combat climate change.

Initiated by the US state of California and the German state of Baden-Württemberg, this Under 2 Mou constitutes an agreement signed by regional governments and cities who have therein pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of 1990 by 80-96%, or by two tonnes per capita, by 2050.

After the signatures from Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK, the Under 2 MOU has been endorsed or signed by a total of 41 jurisdictions representing 19 countries and 5 continents. With a representative GDP of $12.3 trillion and 387 million people, the Under 2 MOU would constitute the second largest economy behind the United States if it were a single country.

"These actions from the regions, cities and towns to combat climate change are an essential contribution to achieving our goal of bringing rising temperatures below 2°C," commented the Minister of the Environment whilst presenting the Luxembourgish initiative of the climate pact.

The UN Summit on Sustainable Development, between 24 and 27 September 2015, at which the Luxembourg Prime Minister and the Ministers for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action and the Environment were present, represented an important opportunity in which to accelerate the momentum ahead of the climate change conference taking place in Paris this December.

 

Photo by Under 2 MOU (L-R: Luxembourg Minister for the Environment, Carole Dieschbourg; Californie Secretary for Environmental Protection, Matther Rodriguez; Dutch Minister of the Environment, Wilma Mansveld)