Climate Change Conference

What have been the outcomes of COP22?

Most of you will know that the COP22 (twenty - second session of the Conference of the Parties), which was also the first meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, was held in Marrakesh from 7 – 18 November 2016 (UN 2016). 

Overall COP22 has been successful in channelling collective spirit for climate change action and getting the majority to commit to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. At this moment, 123 out of 197 parties have ratified the Paris Agreement.

Important outcomes that were agreed on related to the issue areas of mitigation, adaption, finance, transparency, implementation, compliance and global stocktake. Particularly interesting in relation to this blog are the discussion over the Adaption Fund: The ‘Adaption Fund’ provides financial support to developing countries for climate change adaption and was initially established in 2001 under the Kyoto Protocol. Discussions were held whether the recently formed ‘Green Climate Fund’ should replace the Adaption Fund, however developing countries strongly argued for keeping the Adaption Fund alive. A decision to this issue was postponed to March 2017.

Climate funding is one of the decisive factors enabling the realisation of both green growth and adaption strategies, and it is encouraging to see that considerable financial resources will be invested in these endeavours. So far, 10 billion USD have been pledged for the 'Green Climate Fund' mechanism.

For more information on the outcomes of the conference read the hyperlinked article!