Government Vice President and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos called the UN Climate Summit 2014 “a milestone on the road to Paris” during his address at the meeting.

“Today’s meeting constitutes a milestone on the road to Paris. It provides us with the opportunity to sustain momentum and capitalise on the work already undertaken to reach an ambitious, legally binding agreement next year, in order to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius” said Mr. Venizelos.

Referring to the environmental challenges emerging in Europe, Vice President Venizelos said “Greece supports the European Commission’s proposals for the 2030 Framework” and added that “energy efficiency measures are effective policy tools aimed at easing the burden of consumers struggling with high energy prices. The Greek Government not only takes an interest in the economic dimension of energy efficiency, but also in the way it addresses climate change”.

He also highlighted “the vast wind and solar potential of the Greek islands ” that could supply energy to many regions and thus contribute to the EU’s overall renewables target.

Mr. Venizelos also said that Greece supports the “Putting a Price on Carbon” initiative adding that it “endorses its launch as one of the collaborative actions of the current summit”.