Côte d’Ivoire, Monaco, and Niue last week joined the Paris Agreement, bringing the climate change accord’s total membership to 87.
The agreement will enter into force on Nov. 4, just days before the 22nd session of the Conferences of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, scheduled for Nov. 7-18 in Marrakesh, Morocco. COP22 will serve as the first meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1), and any nations that joined at least 30 days prior to the event may participate. Last week’s new members did not join early enough to take part in the meeting as members.
Parties to the agreement were to vote on several implementation decisions during CMA1; however, because the agreement entered into force much faster than anticipated, the group tasked with developing draft decisions ahead of the meeting is not finished with its work. Because the draft decisions are not complete and because many parties have joined the agreement in the short time since its adoption, it is likely that those decisions will be voted on at a future COP.