The Paris Agreement came into force on 4 November. Now the time has come to implement it in every country, every city, every company, every family…

We already know in advance that this is a huge challenge. No generation in the history of mankind has ever faced such a global, complex and hard to solve problem. It is also a serious ethical conflict that impacts mainly on the most disadvantaged sectors of the population and which is jeopardising the future of our children and the coming generations. Besides, if we fail to take action, the irreversibility of the situation will mean that the measures we take in the future will be ineffective and much more costly. We are the only generation that can actually do something prominent to halt climate change.

That is why we ALL have to act: actors big and small or public and private; we ALL have to move ALL the levers of change (regulatory, technological, financial, cultural, etc.) and we have to do it NOW. We have already wasted a lot of time talking and now we have to urgently mobilise ourselves in every country and in every sector.

The Marrakech Climate Summit is going to be very important because now is the time to implement what was agreed on in the global agreement reached in Paris that has just entered into force. Now it’s the time.

Those of us that have joined the Moving for Climate Now initiative come from various countries and organisations. It should not be strange to have different opinions about some aspects of the policies to be implemented. However, we are aware that given the seriousness of the situation, we have to concentrate on JOINING and MULTIPLYING forces to mobilise society all around the world and halt climate change.  Debate should not delay action. Public administrations, NGOs, companies: society as a whole has to be mobilised.

In this huge mobilisation for climate, the following points are very important and urgent:

• Fighting climate change should also be an opportunity to create jobs, improve air quality in our cities, enhance public health, safeguard biodiversity, water resources and the agrofood sector, etc.
• Fighting climate change should be a cross-disciplinary effort that helps meet the rest of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieve well-being for all people within the planet’s boundaries.
• Public authorities should take advantage of all opportunities for action to implementing the Paris Agreement, including new regulations, economic instruments, public procurement to boost companies that are more committed to climate, leading by example at their own facilities, education and awareness schemes, etc.
• The financial system should mobilise the huge volume of economic resources needed to finance the transition towards a low-carbon economy.
• The technological transition should be completed as soon as possible and mechanisms should be set up to transfer it to developing countries.
• Companies should use their resources to help create a low-carbon, climate-friendly economy as soon as possible.
• The general public and social organisations should implement the values and habits that are crucial to solve the current climatic crossroad we are at.
• Energy, which is the main cause of the problem, should also be the main source of solutions with a model based on clean energies, sustainable mobility and energy efficiency.

The slogan for this initiative, Moving for Climate Now, sums up our message to society: Let’s ALL move, pulling ALL the levers RIGHT NOW.

We are pedalling as we say this because the bicycle is an example of good technology, beneficial for people’s health and well-being and also for the climate.