The latest UN climate summit began on Monday, with leaders now settling in for two weeks of discussions and negotiations aimed at ironing out the implementation of the Paris deal and global climate goals generally.
Around this time last year, at the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, a groundbreaking deal was conceived with the aim of consolidating global efforts against global warming.
Just a few weeks ago, the Paris Deal officially came into effect, after the ratification threshold was passed much earlier than expected, pushed over the edge by the European Union, who ultimately fast tracked their ratification as a single bloc.
The major aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep global temperatures “well below 2C above pre-industrial levels”, and ideally to below 1.5C. Along with this, signatories have pledged to aim to eventually cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero or, in the agreements wording, to “achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century”.
The aims, as well as their means of implementation and each country’s success in working towards them, will be reassessed every five years, in order to make sure everyone is on the right track.
Given the speed with which the Paris Agreement came into force, much of the discussion at the current conference in Marrakesh will need to be geared towards ironing out details and clarifying each country’s commitments.
For example, in order to effectively track and compare emissions from the 196 countries signed up to the agreement, some form of standardised carbon accounting method needs to be properly conceived.
Yamide Dagnet, at the World Resources Institute, explained: “The current system has struggled to cope with just 40 countries. There are capacity issues, and we need to find a way to really enable developing countries to step up their game and report regularly.”
The countries will reconvene in 2018, for a “facilitative dialogue”, to check on each country’s progress towards implementing the agreements terms and working towards its aims. The timing of the Marrakesh conference, then, is important as it will help set out the means by which each country can work towards getting themselves in the right position come 2018.
Badr Ikken, director of the Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies, said that the Marrakesh conference is an opportunity to push forwards with initiatives and funding aimed at helping developing nations with their efforts against global warming which, without sufficient help, could work to the detriment of their economic development.
He said: “At COP 22, we’re seeing the participation of small countries, countries which are still in need of support from developed nations.
“What we hope for the event is to mobilise for funds for renewable energy projects and technology transfer in Africa in particular.
“It’s very important to reach our goal of 2C or less, and non-developed countries, which in the future will start generating more energy, have to be strongly involved now.”
