Berlin: South Korea has called for all countries to submit their action plans for reducing gas emissions to tackle climate change, highlighting the need to speed up the implementation of the shared international goal under the Paris Agreement. Chung Kee-yong, ambassador for climate change, made the call at the 16th Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which opened in Berlin for a two-day run Tuesday, the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a release.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Petersburg Climate Dialogue is a high-level dialogue platform initiated by the German government in 2010, aimed at generating political momentum for negotiations under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP). This year's conference focused on discussions on the transition to carbon neutrality and progress on the submission of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for greenhouse gas reduction.
At the session, Chung "underscored the importance of all countries submitting their 2035 NDCs in line with the Paris Agreement's objectives to strengthen global climate action," the ministry said. "The participants discussed accelerating the implementation of the Paris Agreement and explored ways to achieve meaningful outcomes at COP30, set to be held in Brazil this November," it added.
The Paris Agreement calls for capping the global warming increase to 1.5 C above the levels from the preindustrialization period. On the sidelines of the dialogue, Chung held bilateral meetings with Selwin Hart, special adviser to the U.N. secretary-general on climate action, as well as representatives from China, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. They exchanged views on key climate and environmental issues, including the 2035 NDCs and developments in negotiations on the global plastics treaty.