The Paris climate agreement on 12 December 2015, ratified by the European Union on 4 October 2016, came into force on Friday 4 November, three days before the start of COP 22 (Marrakesh, 7-18 November), a step forward immediately welcomed by the EU, aware that the time has now come for implementation.
COP 22 will work to turn into reality the commitments made in the agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Nothing can yet be taken for granted since, even if all the commitments are met, the world is still heading for average warming of between 2.9 and 3.5 degrees Celsius, the UNEP emissions gap report has just warned (see EUROPE 11660).
“A month ago, Europe triggered the entry into force of the Paris Agreement. Today, it’s a reality. Let’s keep up the momentum”, tweeted Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete on Friday. He says that “Marrakesh will be about action and implementation. It’s time for results”.
In Marrakesh, the EU will be represented by Slovak Environment Minister Laszlo Solymos, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, and by Cañete.
“Inaction is not an option; slowing down is not our course of action. We are ready to seize this momentum to speed up work on the clean energy transition, in our Union and globally. We are ready to work at all levels, including the local level, to bring the benefits of this transition to our citizens”, stated Maros Sefcovic, Commission Vice-President in charge of the Energy Union, in a press release.
The EU position for COP 22 has long been agreed (see EUROPE 11636 and 11641). The EU expects tangible progress on the key parts of the Paris Agreement, including on access to finance for developing countries and on developing and strengthening the skills and processes needed in developing countries to implement their domestic climate plans.
The EU and its member states are the biggest contributors to the public financing of the $100 billion per year from 2020 promised to developing countries to support their adaptation and mitigation efforts. With €17.6 billion disbursed in 2015 – the official figure communicated before COP 22 (see EUROPE 11654) – they account for almost half of the pledges in the Green Climate Fund, the European Commission highlights.
One of the main priorities for COP 22 will be to strengthen climate action before 2020, the year when most of the national climate action plans put forward by countries in the run up to COP 21 in Paris start. The high-level event on global climate action on 17 November and the thematic action days being held throughout COP 22 offer an opportunity to reflect on progress made on existing initiatives as well as for announcements of new initiatives. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)