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The Moving for Climate NOW cycling trip, sponsored by the Spanish Network of the United Nations Global Compact and Iberdrola, will start today in Paris. Participants will travel on their electric bicycles to Bonn (Germany), where the Climate Summit -COP23- chaired by the Fiji Islands will begin on the 6th of November.

This initiative is an official Summit event, classified as an endorsed initiative by COP23. The multi-disciplinary cycling team will be made up of over 40 people from different organisations and countries, with the purpose of raising awareness on the importance of facing the climate change challenges, uniting efforts in all areas and the implementation of ambitious and urgent measures to combat climate change.

The cycling team will disseminate these messages over an 800-km itinerary through Brussels and other European cities, such as Bruges and Urmond, reaching Bonn on the 5th of November.

The Spanish Network of the United Nations Global Compact and Iberdrola see the Bonn Summit as a very important event, which will help speed up the definition of the Paris commitments and foster implementation of the Agreement reached during the 2015 Climate Summit held in the French capital.

Upon their arrival at COP23 in Bonn, Moving for Climate NOW will present the Manifesto of this initiative to combat climate change. The document includes the fundamental principles which according to the team must be addressed when facing climate change challenges.

For example, it highlights the commitment to renewable energies, the need to see the fight against global warming as an opportunity and not as a threat towards building a sustainable economic model, the urgency to unite efforts in all sectors of the society and the importance of attracting funding.

And of special relevance on this edition will be measures to adapt to climate change and protecting vulnerable communities as well as raising awareness on the importance of oceans and the vital role they play in regulating climate and the planet’s health.

Emissions calculation for the trip was verified by CeroCO2 and its carbon footprint has been compensated by purchasing carbon credits from the UN's Climate Neutral Now and CeroCO2 platforms.

Second edition of ‘Moving for Climate NOW’

Moving for Climate NOW is running its second edition, after a group of cyclists travelled over 1,000 km last year from Seville to the COP22 Climate Summit held in Marrakesh.

Last year's edition saw the participation of the following international organisations: the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the International Energy Agency (IEA); entities such as the Spanish Climate Change Office, the Economic, Social and Environment Council of Morocco, the Biodiversity Foundation and City Council of Seville; initiatives such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development or Carbon Disclosure Project, or the civil society, through NGOs like ECODES, the Red Cross and Ayuda en Acción.

Most of these organisations are participating in this year’s edition and new organisations have joined, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC); the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), among others.

The 2016 trip started in Seville on the 7th of November, arriving at the Climate Summit of Marrakesh on the 16th of November, where Iberdrola's Chairman, Ignacio Galán, and Víctor Viñuales, Vice-President of the Spanish Network of the United Nations Global Compact (organising committee for Moving for Climate NOW) handed over the Manifesto to Horacio Peluffo, Chief of Protocol and External Relations Officer of the Executive Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy; Isabel García Tejerina, Minister of Agriculture, Fishing, Food and the Environment, and Said Mouline, Chief Operating Officer of the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency and member of the Executive Committee of the COP22 also attended that event.