Daily News & Analysis India
Nikhil M Ghanekar
Days before the upcoming Marrakesh climate change conference in Morocco, the historic Paris climate agreement will enter into force on Friday.
Following negotiations, major greenhouse gas emitters such as United States, China and India domestically ratified the Paris agreement. The European Union, comprising 28 members, followed suit.
55 countries representing 55 per cent of global emissions ratified the agreement, thus fulfilling the legal criterion. A total of 94 countries, out of 197 that participated in the agreement, have ratified it, accounting for 66 per cent of global emissions.
While the Paris agreement is due to be implemented after 2020, the conference at Marrakesh will be held to decide upon the procedure to implement and fix timelines for scaling efforts in reducing emissions earlier. The rapid enforcement of the Paris agreement will enable countries to hold the first meeting of Parties to the Paris Agreement in Marrakesh, Morocco. This will include only those countries that have already ratified the agreement.
Energy transformation, assistance to cope with climate induced disasters and funding for clean technology will be some of the topics of discussion at the conference. “The conference will be about sorting out details to implement the Paris agreement. Issues such as pre-2020 action and green climate fund and rules of implementation will be key. A heated discussion is expected on the green climate fund issue between developed and developing economies,” said Harjeet Singh, International Climate Policy Manager, Action Aid.
Developed countries have already released a ‘roadmap’ on the $100 billion per year Green Climate Fund which has copped criticism from developing economies for cases of double accounting and flow of funds.
“In Marrakesh, the focus will be on the more finer aspects and procedures. An institutional structure will have to be put in place to take the Paris agreement forward,” said Chandra Bhushan deputy director general, Centre for Science and Environment. There will also be a discussion to review the ‘loss and damage’ mechanism which provides a structure for helping small island countries and other vulnerable ones to deal with climate change impacts by financing them.
