This year’s United Nations climate conference, COP23, concluded on November 17 in Bonn, under the presidency of Fiji, with nearly 200 countries taking steps forward to ensure global climate action through implementation of the Paris Agreement, the European Commission said.

This year’s United Nations climate conference, COP23, concluded on November 17 in Bonn, under the presidency of Fiji, with nearly 200 countries taking steps forward to ensure global climate action through implementation of the Paris Agreement, the European Commission said.

“The spirit of Paris is very much alive. We achieved progress in Bonn on the issues that were important to the EU, such as the Paris Work Program,” Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said. “But we must continue to build on this momentum in the coming months, because there is still a lot of work ahead of us before we meet in Katowice next year. The main objective must be to keep the world firmly on the path towards what was agreed two years ago in Paris,” he added.

The parties made concrete progress on turning the historic 2015 agreement into action on the ground across the world, ahead of next year’s UN climate conference in Katowice, Poland.

The Paris Agreement sets out a global framework for climate action and the necessary transition to a low-carbon future in order to limit global warming to well below 2°C. Under the Paris Agreement the EU has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% till 2030 (1990 level).

The European Union again had a central role in brokering agreements during the two-week climate negotiations, the Commission said, noting that a sign of climate leadership the EU announced on November 16 that it intends to deposit the ratification instruments of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol by the end of this year. The Doha Amendment concerns the second period of the Kyoto Protocol, which requires parties to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020. The EU has already exceeded its 2020 targets in 2016 by having decreased emissions by 23%. The decision to swiftly ratify the Doha Amendment demonstrates our commitment to the international climate action and shows that the EU makes good on its promises.

Concrete steps forward were also taken on the work program for implementing the Paris Agreement. Clarity on the design of the so-called “Talanoa Dialogue” (Facilitative Dialogue) has been achieved looking at how global climate action can be accelerated in the years to come. The Facilitative Dialogue next year will be the opportunity for political stocktaking for the parties on progress made on the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the Commission said.

https://www.neweurope.eu/article/cop23-climate-talks-accelerate-paris-agreement-implementation/