Following the historic deal reached at COP 21 in Paris, a further round of negotiations took place at the COP 22 summit in Marrakesh. Leaders from countries at all levels of development — as well as business, cities, regions, civil society and indigenous communities — renewed their commitment to the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The focus now is on implementation, so that any rise in global temperatures can be limited to 1.5°C or below, an absolute prerequisite for climate justice. The original target of limiting a rise in global temperatures to 2.0°C was adjusted as models still predicted a fifty percent chance catastrophic climate change for such an increase.

The current round of negotiations chiefly involved hashing out the technical details of the Paris agreement. The summit also allows the participating parties to review pledges, and to address climate change impacts on the Arabian Gulf region, GCC adaptation plans, funding opportunities and the implementation of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). The respected group of analysts at Climate Action Tracker, which also monitors the NDCs, says the current pledges will deliver about 2.8C of global warming. As part of the Paris deal, countries agreed to revise their plans every five years. Every NDC must improve on the one before. This is what some call the “ratchet mechanism” and many see it as the saving grace of the new deal struck in Paris.

Read more (Al Jazeera)>>
Read more (Gulf News)>>
Read more (The Guardian)>>