MARRAKESH, Morocco — The first meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change (CMA) opened here Tuesday with much back patting and little substance.
During the meeting’s brief opening plenary at the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP and CMA President Salaheddine Mezouar congratulated member parties for the accord’s speedy entry into force.
“This meeting today is truly a historic occasion from all points of view, and I am pleased to see that so many heads of state and government and ministers have joined us,” said Mezouar, Morocco’s foreign minister. “The entry into force of the Paris Agreement in less than one year is a testimony to your political commitment to addressing the global challenge of climate change.”
The Paris Agreement’s entry into force was triggered in early October, much earlier than initially expected, upon reaching membership by 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The text of the document requires that the first COP after that milestone host the initial meeting of the CMA. The agreement entered into force on Nov. 4, just days before COP22.
The climate deal calls for the CMA to adopt a handful of decisions for implementing the accord that have not yet been ironed out, such as how to design a transparency mechanism for reporting of emissions. The Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) is formally tasked with delivering the draft decisions to the first CMA meeting, after which it is to disband. However, the working group could not feasibly complete its work by CMA1.
It has been assumed that the CMA will extend the working group’s mandate, granting it until 2018 to complete its assignment. This would also allow more nations to join the agreement, which currently sits at 109 parties, before any major implementation decisions are made.
In a proposal updated most recently Monday, Mezouar suggested the CMA invite the COP to request that the working group “accelerate and complete work on the work programme under the Paris Agreement and to forward the outcome to the COP by the latest COP24.”
After only a few minutes the opening plenary of CMA1 was closed, with the session to pick back up Wednesday.
Immediately following the conclusion of the opening plenary of CMA1, Mezouar launched the joint high-level segment of the COP, which will continue for the three days will feature statements by world leaders and government ministers.
U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Jonathan Pershing is scheduled to present the Obama administration’s statement Thursday.
Heavy-hitters including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, and Moroccan King Mohammed VI spoke during the opening plenary of the conference’s high-level segment.
The presentations were congratulatory in tone but warned against resting on the laurels of the Paris Agreement, under which member nations have offered pledges of action to limit global temperature rise. “This is a new dawn for global cooperation on climate change,” Ban said. “The Paris Agreement is one of the most complex and ambitious and far-reaching visions ever reached by the United Nations, by the international community. I thank all heads of state and government who are present here for leadership and strong commitment for their vision.”
Ban emphasized the importance of continued action. “The choices we make today and in the coming decades could lock in catastrophic climate impacts for thousands of years to come. This is an enormous responsibility – and an enormous opportunity to do what is right for our future,” Ban said, urging nations to increase the ambition of their climate plans.
Espinosa took a similar tone, saying is it time to “reflect on how to now accelerate climate action.”