NEW Fight Against Global Warming Gaining Momentum

Climate negotiators started work Monday on implementing the Paris Agreement on global warming amid uncertainty over how the US election will impact the landmark deal as temperatures and greenhouse gases soar to new heights.

COP22, the 22nd annual Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held at Marrakech concluded with the release of the Marrakech Action Proclamation, which “celebrates the unstoppable global momentum on climate change and sustainable development action”.

Paris agreement finalised in December last year entered into force in less than a year and the summit also welcomed it.

Commitments by developing countries to shift their economies to run on renewable energy were a highlight of the talks, as were efforts by businesses and cities to forge ahead with green policies.

However, despite all these “actions” hailed by governments, more concrete action is necessary.

“The transformation to a climate-friendly world agreed on in Paris is well underway and can no longer be halted”.

Unlike Trump and today’s GOP, Reagan and Bush senior accepted climate science and were committed to climate action.

“From outside Marrakech it obviously looked as though the entire United Nations climate process was skidding into a ditch of despond and decline”, said Richard Black, director of the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit. Stay tuned to Devex as we continue to examine the intersection of development and climate change – one of the biggest stories on the planet. The plan is to reduce Carbon dioxide emissions 80% “or more” by 2050, compared with 2005 levels. This is a critical outcome this week that further solidified progress on the Paris Agreement.

Canada is one of the climate agreement’s 191 signatories. This proved to be a controversial issue during the negotiations. At a minimum, a USA pullout won’t help matters.

In an op-ed this week, environmental representatives from Ethiopia, the Philippines, and Costa Rica wrote that “the recent outcome of the USA elections can not stop those of us dedicated to battling climate change”.

Through initiatives such as the Global Covenant of Mayors, the world’s local and regional governments are key to bridging the gap between governments’ climate commitments and the Paris Agreement which seeks to keep temperatures rising well below 2°C.

“This shows their total lack of commitment and seriousness as historical emitters in addressing the climate change issue”, said the CSE which is also quite disappointed with India’s position during the Conference.

“The past two weeks have been a rollercoaster ride but the U.S. elections have energised the likes of China and the vulnerable countries to rally round and deepen their shared endeavour to get off fossil fuels”, she said.

18 November is the last day of the COP22 – the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference that is now wrapping up in Marrakesh, Morocco. “Here in Marrakech, governments underlined that this is now urgent, irreversible and unstoppable”. China especially seems ready to step into the looming vacuum.

It will also foster global, regional, national and sub-national cooperation.

The world should work harder, faster on climate change, and make the Rose City the new start of a rosier future for this and future generations. Procedural discussions and decisions to develop rule book for Paris Agreement were advanced in many ways at this conference.

The report noted that putting in place the policies required to meet the 1.5°C goal would mean countries that “were not participants in the past system of high carbon wealth creation will need help from those that were”.

“Now the developing countries are really revving up the issue”.

Countries sought to begin operationalisation of the Paris Agreement at COP22.

Meanwhile developing countries in Marrakech continued to demand not only more money but a greater balance on finance for mitigation – or emissions-cutting – programmes – and for plans allowing them to adapt to the effects of climate change.

“Adaptation finance is not just an abstract numbers game”.