Schulz welcomes the Paris Climate Agreement

"A month ago Paris was the theatre of the terror and hatred of the few. Today the world's collective consciousness and reason have come together in Paris to deliver a climate agreement which will make safer the future of our planet, for the current and next generations.

'Historic' is an often-abused adjective in politics, but today's agreement deserves this qualification: it outlines the path on which we all have to embark to strengthen the global response to climate change in the short, medium and long term.

Paris has succeeded where previous negotiations had failed. It provides a universal and binding agreement which allows for increased ambition and reviews every five years. It sets out monitoring and reporting which will allow us to assess how well we are faring in our fight against climate change and what we need to correct to limit the increase in the global average temperature to well below the 2 °C threshold while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C.

This agreement sends a clear and unequivocal message that innovation, investment and research in cleaner and sustainable technologies and strategies, not polluting activities, will be the winning formulas.

The tough work starts now. Paris is a success today because all Parties have been truly included in the agreement in a democratic, transparent and pluralistic fashion. Parties must now implement and finance this agreement ensuring the highest degree of ownership at the state level, but also by subnational actors, civil society, investors, workers, citizens and parliaments.

I would like to thank Commissioner Cañete, Luxembourg's Minister for the Environment Dieschbourg and the European Union negotiating team for their hard and committed work, not only during the conference in Paris, but also during the many years of thorough preparation. The European Parliament, which took part in the EU delegation, has always been a strong advocate of an ambitious agreement and will certainly be equally ambitious in the urgent implementation of the Paris agreement.

I would also like to congratulate the work of the UN, of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and of Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, demonstrating the continued high relevance and need of a strong United Nations.

Finally, I would like to thank France for its role as host and Chair of the conference. Today's agreement would not be possible without France's stewardship. The French government carefully and professionally paved the way to this agreement: it set up an impeccable organisation, it created and cemented trust between the Parties, and it urged ambition, always acting as an honest broker. Its legacy will be long-lasting."