Two “champions” designated under the Paris Agreement on Monday issued their road map for promoting climate change action across the globe through 2020.
Nearly 200 nations last fall approved the global climate accord during the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Among the decisions of the landmark conference, the participating states called for selection of two officials who would “facilitate through strengthened high-level engagement in the period 2016–2020 the successful execution of existing efforts and the scaling-up and introduction of new or strengthened voluntary efforts, initiatives and coalitions” aimed at countering worldwide temperature increase, according to the conference report.
The first appointed champions are Laurence Tubiana, French ambassador for climate change negotiations, and Hakima El Haite, Moroccan minister delegate to the minister of energy, mines, water, and environment, in charge of the environment. France hosted COP21, while the next conference will be held later this year in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Tubiana and El Haite’s remit includes working with the UNFCCC executive secretary and COP presidents to organize an annual senior-level event on climate change policy and actions that would be held in conjunction with the Conference of the Parties; advancing the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, under which non-state actors (such as cities, business, and civil society) pledge short- and long-term efforts against climate change; and assisting the UNFCCC secretariat in organizing meetings of technical experts.
The two diplomats’ road map highlights their priorities and generally what they plan to do in their roles.
They noted that the Lima-Paris Action Agenda launched over 70 “transformational initiatives” involving nearly 10,000 participants, including more than 7,000 local authorities that pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. “An unprecedented number of commitments were made across a diverse range of thematic areas such as agriculture, buildings, energy, forests, innovation, resilience, short-lived climate pollutants and transport,” the road map says. “Hundreds of billions of US dollars were redirected to invest in the transition towards a low-carbon and resilient economy.”
Nonetheless, the champions believe more gains are possible, and are committed to drawing in additional participants from national and local governments, businesses, and civil society in developing nations. “We intend to ensure that they are full engaged and represented in the global climate action agenda,” they stated.
Additional priorities including establishing new projects on climate adaptation and resilience and getting behind innovation, the document says.
The two also want to strengthen links between various climate action initiatives and groups and national projects, particularly the Paris Agreement’s national determined contributions – each country’s commitment to taking steps to curb temperature rise. “We will be calling for contributions from actors in all sectors to generate solutions that can help governments to implement what they have committed to and to extend them further,” Tubiana and El Haite said.
They also intend to establish a voluntary program on “low-emission development strategies” for any interested stakeholder.
Transparency will be another primary focus, including monitoring implementation of voluntary projects and coalitions.
Finally, El Haite and Tubiana emphasized their involvement in guiding meetings that will contribute to the Conferences of Parties. “This year’s main milestone and focal moment of climate action will be the High Level Event on Climate Action in Marrakech at COP 22,” they wrote. “We intend to use the event to its full potential and invite leaders and stakeholders to actively prepare for and engage in it.”
Technical expert meetings should also not be viewed as isolated sessions, the two said; instead, these sessions can offer direct recommendations or other assistance to high-level meetings. The two are preparing additional recommendations for making TEMs “more solution oriented,” and also support expanding participation to give policymakers from around the world the opportunity to participate via webcasts, webinars, and other resources.
The champions will submit a joint report on climate action and their progress on the road map at COP22 in Marrakesh.
