17 Dec (NucNet): After two weeks of crunch negotiations the 197 parties gathered in Katowice, Poland, for the United Nations COP24 two-week climate change conference, adopted a “robust” set of implementing guidelines for the 2015 Paris agreement, aimed at keeping global warming well below 2C compared to pre-industrial levels.
The UN said countries settled on most of the tricky elements of the “rulebook” for putting the 2015 Paris agreement into practice. This includes how governments will measure, report on and verify their emissions-cutting efforts, a key element because it ensures all countries are held to proper standards.
One of the key components of the Katowice package is a detailed transparency framework, meant to promote trust among nations regarding the fact that they are all doing their part in addressing climate change, the UN said. The package sets out how countries will provide information about their national action plans, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as mitigation and adaptation measures.
An agreement was reached on how to uniformly count greenhouse gas emissions and if poorer countries feel they cannot meet the standards set, they can explain why and present a plan to build up their capacity in that regard.
On the thorny question of financing from developed countries in support of climate action in developing countries, the document sets a way to decide on new, more ambitious targets from 2025 onwards, from the current commitment to mobilise $100bn per year as of 2020.
Another notable achievement is that nations agreed on how to collectively assess the effectiveness of climate action in 2023, and how to monitor and report progress on the development and transfer of technology.
EU climate action and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said the rulebook adopted in Poland will enable the 197 parties to the Paris agreement to “implement, track and progressively enhance their contributions to tackling climate change, in order to meet the agreement’s long-term goals”.
