Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, the International Co-operative Alliance has urged world leaders to set out effective and ambitious measures against climate change. The Alliance’s General Assembly, which met in Antalya earlier this month, has issued a statement in which it highlights that co-operatives are sustainable enterprises that play an important role in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The statement also explains how the contribution of co-operatives has already been recognised in in several global policy initiatives, such as the Rio+20 outcome document, the Financing for Development Outcome Document and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“Co-operatives are active in many sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, retail, insurance, housing, banking and energy, among others, and can therefore be a vehicle to implement the Sustainable Development Goals across different fields, the fight against climate change included.
“The International Co-operative Alliance has urged its members to continue and step up their initiatives to fight climate change,” reads the document.
The Alliance includes members of more than 2.5m co-operative enterprises across the world that provide for the livelihood of 250m people, some of whom they directly employ.
“The International Co-operative Alliance urges the heads of state and government, present in Paris for the COP21, to agree to effective and ambitious measures against climate change and to take into consideration the co-operative movement as a partner in their implementation,” reads the statement.
The declaration has been sent to Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development and President of the COP21.
Jean-Louis Bancel, who presented the statement at the General Assembly in Antalya, is joining the COP21 French delegation in Paris. There he will make the case for co-operatives to be mentioned as important actors in the implementation of policies designed to address climate change.
“Co-ops should be considered as a way of implementing national energy projects for climate change,” he said. The declaration was designed to inform the global movement about the role co-operatives can play in addressing climate change as well as encourage co-ops from all over the world to get involved in the process.
