At the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) held in Katowice, Poland in December 2018, negotiators from 196 countries and the European Union finalized the Katowice Climate Package, which seeks to implement the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement, which was adopted at COP21, establishes a goal of limiting the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. The Paris Agreement requires each member party to deliver successively more ambitious emission reduction goals – known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs – every five years. The Paris Agreement also dealt with issues including climate finance, technology, compliance, transparency, adaptation and a global stocktake process starting in 2023. Under the Paris Agreement, member parties established the Ad hoc Working Group for the Paris Agreement, which is tasked with developing the operational details for implementation through the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP).
The discussions of COP 24 were focused on completing the PAWP. The Katowice Climate Package covers decisions on many of the key issues mandated under the PAWP including:
- Finance – The parties identified the information to be provided by parties in accordance with Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement (finance transparency) along with matters relating to the Adaptation Fund, and setting a collective quantified goal on finance.
- Technology – The parties adopted decisions on the scope of and modalities for the periodic assessment of the Technology Mechanism and the technology framework.
- Mitigation – The parties developed further guidance on NDCs and common timeframes, as well as modalities, work programme, and functions of the forum on the impact of the implementation of response measures under the Paris Agreement.
- Adaptation – The parties developed further guidance on adaptation communication.
Other issues addressed by the parties include: (i) discussions around the procedures and guidelines for the transparency framework for action; (ii) procedures for the operation of the committee to facilitate implementation and promote compliance; and (iii) the global stocktake.
The Ministers attending COP24 also adopted the “Forests for Climate” Katowice Ministerial Declaration, which provides for accelerated actions to ensure that the global contribution of forests and forest products is maintained and further enhanced by 2050 to support the goals of the Paris Agreement .
The draft decisions on Matters relating to the implementation of the Paris Agreement is available online (the official version will be made available on the UNFCCC web site once they are finalized by the United Nations Office).
During the formal opening of COP24, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that “we are in deep trouble with climate change” and shared four messages:
- science demands a significantly more ambitious response to the challenge of climate change;
- the Paris Agreement provides the framework for the needed transformative action and must be operationalized in Katowice;
- there is a collective responsibility to invest in averting “global climate chaos”; and
- climate action offers a compelling path to transformation, but political will and more far-sighted leadership are required.
While the Katowice Climate Package provides a good starting “rule book” to advance the objectives of the Paris Agreement, some of the more difficult discussions (including those around setting more stringent emission reduction targets and carbon markets) have been delayed until COP25, which will be held in Chile. Stay tuned for further developments.