All news

Paris Agreement not subject to revision, Russian presidential advisor says

Work is in progress to prepare the mechanisms for the implementation of the Paris agreement
People pass the German pavilion in the shape of the earth during the COP 23 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn AP Photo/Martin Meissner
People pass the German pavilion in the shape of the earth during the COP 23 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn
© AP Photo/Martin Meissner

BONN, November 17. /TASS/. No one will review the Paris climate agreement for the sake of those who are dissatisfied with it, Russian presidential advisor and special envoy for climate change Alexander Bedritsky told TASS. He represented the Russian delegation at the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23), which ends in Bonn on Friday.

"We believe that the agreement itself does not require any revision. Attempts to review it - the text of the document itself - would be a big mistake. A compromise has been reached, which means that every country has some provisions, which it believes could be changed. However, the art of negotiation means finding an option that would suit everyone," he said.

"You heard statements made by European leaders, and our president spoke about that too. No one will revise the Paris agreement to please someone," Bedritsky noted.

He noted that work is in progress to prepare the texts on mechanisms for the implementation of the Paris agreement. "According to the delegations’ estimates, there has been good progress in drafting the documents for the negotiations. It is uneven, some parties are not keeping apace with other others. Nevertheless, there is substantial progress," he stressed.

The Paris agreement was adopted on December 12, 2015, following 21st conference of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. A total of 195 participants in the forum agreed on preventing average temperatures on the Earth from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2100 compared to the pre-industrial era. The Paris agreement is to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2020.

In early June, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s plans to withdraw from the deal arguing that the agreement was a threat to the US economy. He also said that the Paris Agreement would cost the United States 2.7 million jobs by 2025.