After last-minute discussions saw the extension of negotiations in Katowice, Poland, COP24 finally came to a close before the Christmas break. Three years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, which was a turning point in the fight against climate change and provided hope for climate action, COP 24 was supposed to be the pivotal conference for hammering out the details of how the Paris Agreement is to be delivered: the “rulebook”. Instead, COP 24 has been a disappointment both in terms of the detail of the rulebook and the failure by some nations to agree to welcome the findings of the IPCC report.
Let’s begin with the positive. COP 24 saw progress made on three important areas:
There were of course areas that needed more progress than was made at the COP. These include:
It’s difficult to say that COP 24 has delivered the rulebook for the Paris Agreement. There have been a number of developments on specific points of the Paris Agreement, but not the creation of a complete rulebook.
Although it may be too much to hope for global political leadership on climate action in the current international political context, it’s essential and this was something lacking from this year’s Conference of Parties.
Given this, we know that it’s more important than ever that businesses, communities and citizens take responsibility for the delivery of effective change in the short and long term. We cannot wait for states to be bold and take leadership – we must collectively act now.
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