You are cordially invited to a public lecture by the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy on:
The Action Agenda at COP 21 in Paris
Mr. János Pásztor,
Senior Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Climate Change
Introduction: Liviu Matei, Provost & Pro-Rector; Professor, School of Public Policy
Host and moderator: László Pintér, Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy and Senior Fellow, International Institute for Sustainable Development
March 9 (Wednesday), 2016 at 5:00 p.m.
Budapest, Nádor utca 9, Popper Room
Abstract: The UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris in December 2015 was the first meeting of the Parties that was referred to as an “Action COP”, with climate action thoroughly integrated into the programme. Special days were devoted to sectoral topics like energy, agriculture or cities, amongst others. A high-level “Action Day” included the French President and the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) calling on non-state actors, as well as governments to accelerate partnerships and increase climate action on the ground to move in a “virtuous circle” where demonstration of action on the ground will encourage negotiators for more ambition, and where ambitious agreements will encourage even more climate action. At Paris we saw for the first time the workings of the “virtuous circle”. János Pásztor, at the time of the Conference was UN Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change, and will address these issues from the perspective of somebody working directly with UNSG.
János Pásztor was Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change from January 2015 to January 2016 working with the UNSG toward an agreement at COP21 in Paris. He is currently Senior Advisor to the UNSG on Climate Change. For the last 35 years, he has worked on issues of energy, environment, and climate change, including for the World Commission on Environment and Development (the "Brundtland Commission"), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the secretariat of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Rio Earth Summit), the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the UN Environment Management Group (EMG). He first joined the office of the UNSG in 2008 as Director of the UNSG’s Climate Change Support Team. He was Executive Secretary of the UNSG's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability in 2011-2012. During 2012-2014, he worked at WWF International.