Costa Rica Vows To Display Strong Political Leadership If Picked As COP25 Host - Minister

Costa Rica aims to facilitate its application to host COP25 by striving for a joint bid in order to ease the financial burden of the event and will demonstrate strong political leadership as the COP25 president if the relevant decision is made, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Costa Rica's environment and energy minister, told journalists on the sidelines of COP24 on Friday.

KATOWICE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2018) Costa Rica aims to facilitate its application to host COP25 by striving for a joint bid in order to ease the financial burden of the event and will demonstrate strong political leadership as the COP25 president if the relevant decision is made, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Costa Rica's environment and energy minister, told journalists on the sidelines of COP24 on Friday.

"Unfortunately, Costa Rica does not have the resources [to cover the costs of hosting COP on its own] ... The decision will be taken today, and today I cannot commit my country to spend $100 million for COP organization. We are trying to do our best effort to see if we can do a joint effort with Chile and other nations that responsibly reacted to this, but it has been very complicated ... Costa Rica can give a strong political leadership in the presidency of the COP," Rodriguez said.

The minister also expressed hope that the decision would be postponed and consultations moved to next month.

"Why is Costa Rica stepping up for COP25? Well, we need to step up for the region. It is important that the region has opportunity, and particularly Central America. There has not been a COP in Central America.

I know that the COP needs Costa Rica. The convention needs Costa Rica. The convention needs a dose of responsibility that Costa Rica can give it is a chair," Rodriguez stressed.

The 24th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) is taking place on December 2-14 in the Polish city of Katowice. The main goal of the conference participants is to discuss ways of implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

The Paris climate deal, created within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, went into force on November 4, 2016. It has been ratified by 184 of the 197 parties to the accord. The deal aims to keep the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

A host of the COPs is usually defined three years before the event, so that the country can have enough time for preparations. Brazil was initially chosen to host COP25, but the country withdrew its candidacy due to domestic problems. Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado announced in November that his country would like to host the next climate change conference.