To ensure climate justice, it is imperative that any outcome and actions to be agreed under the new agreement shall be underpinned by fairness and universally acknowledged human rights standards. Negotiators must endorse the most ambitious targets and commit immediately to the mid-term goals.

These words of warning marked the conclusion of the two-day Climate Conference 2009 (CC9) —"Green Technology and Finance: Striking a Fair Climate Deal" arranged by Club of Madrid, the environmental foundation Bellona and the Norwegian energy company Hafslund.

More than 100 top leaders in environmental matters – from the public, private, academic and civil society sectors across the globe – met to discuss ways in which a new international climate agreement can address the issues of technology diffusion and adequate financing of adaptation and mitigation in the South.

CC9 participants sat down in four working groups and agreed upon a set of recommendations for the climate negotiations. The CC9 Communiqué is attached. Among the most important recommendations are:

• A new climate deal must be underpinned by human rights.
• To achieve emissions reductions quickly, a sectoral approach is essential as a supplement to a comprehensive agreement.
• Accelerated development and deployment of low emission technology must remain a primary goal across the globe, and should be supported by smart public-private partnerships.
• To contain global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, we need a clear, transparent and predictable greenhouse gas reduction trajectory, with global participation. Proper financing is central to achieve this.

”Our speakers and participants did an excellent job through their active participation in the working groups”, says Christian Berg, CEO of Hafslund ASA. “The industry has to get involved and take a visible, pro-active role in climate affairs that will top the agenda worldwide in the years ahead.”

”Investing in the development and deployment of climate friendly technologies is the best way to stimulate the economy, fight poverty and create new jobs. Green economic growth will reinforce efforts to combat climate change while respecting the development needs of the most vulnerable”, says President of the Bellona Foundation, Frederic Hauge.

The general concensus amongst participants is that it is a gross injustice that poor people in developing countries bare most of the burdens caused by climate change – through death, disease, destitution and financial loss – yet are least responsible for creating the problems.

Benjamin Mkapa, Club of Madrid Member and former President of Tanzania, cautioned: "The issue of clean energy and adaptation is likely to appear to leaders from the developing world as a plot to keep them as under-developed, primary producers, and permanent markets for the goods of the developed industrial nation. This is why they will need massive assistance to be proactive parts of the solution to the problem of climate change and the promotion of green developing national economies."

Download photos from CC9 for free: www.cc9.no/presse

PRESS CONTACTS

For more information or to request interviews, please email or call:
BELLONA: Anne Karin Saether, annekarin@bellona.no, +47 90 20 55 20
HAFSLUND: Karen Onsager, karen.onsager@hafslund.no, +47 92 08 7007
CLUB DE MADRID: Victor Arango, varango@clubmadrid.org, +34 911 548 236