PRESS RELEASE – EU climate change project reveals results of support provided to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine

Brussels, 25 April 2017 – The EU-funded Clima East policy project, which provides support to the Eastern Neighbour countries to be better prepared to deal with climate change impacts, organised a closing conference in Brussels today attended by representatives from the ministries of environment, ecology and nature protection of the six partner countries as well as representatives of the European Commission.

The conference brought together high-level delegates from both government and civil society to reflect on the concrete achievements of the project, especially the crucial role it played in supporting partner countries in their preparation for the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and to share their experiences from across the region.

The Clima East policy project’s aim has been to support ENP-East countries so that they are better equipped for greenhouse gas reductions and better prepared to deal with climate change impacts through targeted inputs to the processes underway in each partner country.

Experts discussed how the project had improved dialogue between partner countries and the European Union, improved national climate policies and engagement with international processes (especially the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), improved modelling and vulnerability assessment for climate policy and improved measuring, reporting and verification (MRV).

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Mr. Niels Schuster, Policy officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action said: “It has been an extraordinary time during which the Clima East policy project has been running. 195 countries came together to negotiate and agree the first legally binding agreement on climate change in Paris in 2015. I’m glad that the six partner countries signed the agreement and that four have already ratified with the other two well advanced. The Clima East policy project has been involved in this historical process, including work on measuring, reporting and verification (MRV), the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as well as supporting countries in the preparing their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) and assistance on long-term adaptation processes.”

For more information on the Clima East Policy Project please download a brochure with an overview of results here.

The Press release is available to download (in English) (in Russian).