Don't let coronavirus stall climate action, warns architect of Paris deal

(Reuters, 18 Mar 2020) "In a way, it's a lesson: viruses don't respect borders, climate change doesn't respect borders," says Laurence Tubiana. "If we do not manage the climate crisis it will be the same."

Governments must not let the coronavirus pandemic derail action on climate change, an architect of the landmark Paris agreement warned on Wednesday, saying the vulnerabilities laid bare by the virus could serve to spur a more concerted response.

Laurence Tubiana, a former French diplomat who was instrumental in brokering the 2015 accord aimed at averting catastrophic global warming, said the disruption caused by the coronavirus was a wake-up call.

"In a way, it's a lesson: viruses don't respect borders, climate change doesn't respect borders," Tubiana, who continues to closely track climate diplomacy, told an online briefing. "If we do not manage the climate crisis it will be the same."

Tubiana was speaking amid mounting concerns that the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus could tempt governments to shy away from the massive effort to cut carbon emissions needed to stabilise the Earth's climate system.

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Reuters, 18 Mar 2020: Don't let coronavirus stall climate action, warns architect of Paris deal