On 8 and 9 October 2021, at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome, the Italian Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) co-organised a meeting dedicated to the forthcoming 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP26. The meeting was attended by parliamentary delegations from all around the world, government and UN officials, and global experts on climate change.
The event also featured an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis, who urged Parliamentarians to address the climate crisis, guided by the principles of responsibility and solidarity.
PAM was represented by President Gennaro Migliore (Italy), Vice President Hon. Pedro Roque (Portugal) and the Chair of the PAM Women Parliamentary Forum Hon. Joana Lima (Portugal). In his speech, the President stressed that the international community cannot afford to lose time anymore, and called on all parliamentarians to put pressure on their respective governments so that COP26 in Glasgow will not be a failure, but a turning point in the history of humanity.
In advance of the COP26 conference, PAM has been very active to drum up political support for climate action, by organizing high-level conferences together with the UN in December 2020 and July 2021, publishing several reports and policy recommendations for its member parliaments, and contributing to key global events such as the IPU Meeting in Rome, the G20 in Naples, and the Global Green Economy Summit in Dubai, among others, with a strong message of urgent action.