{"id":18476,"date":"2018-12-18T11:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T10:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dfge.de\/?p=18476"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:42:36","slug":"cop24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dfge.de\/cop24\/","title":{"rendered":"COP24 \u2013 the 24th Conference of the Parties creates a rulebook for the Paris Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Within the last two weeks (from 2nd<\/sup> to 14th<\/sup> Dec. 2018) the COP24 has taken place in Katowice, Poland. This was the 24th<\/sup> session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP24). The event achieved its main goal to finalize the rulebook of the Paris Agreement, in a context of emotional negotiations.<\/p>\n

From Paris Agreement to the rulebook at COP24<\/h2>\n

COP24 is the informal name for the 24th<\/sup> Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC that entered into force in 1994. The COP is the supreme body of the UNFCCC Convention and consists of the representatives of the Parties to the Convention, i. e. all states that signed their participation to the COP. The COP holds its sessions every year. These sessions should ensure the effective implementation of the provisions of the Convention and regularly reviews these implementations (see COP24, 2018).<\/p>\n

Three years ago, on 12th<\/sup> December 2015, the 196 contracting parties of the UNFCCC launched a new climate agreement in Paris, called the Paris Agreement<\/a>. This is recognized as a historical milestone in climate politic and the inherent political development. Content-related it includes elements like a path for reducing greenhouse gases in order to remain in a 1.5-degree scenario and the mandatory recognition of the contracting parties. It also underpins the divestment transition and it recognizes the urgency regarding the (human) adjustment to climate change.<\/p>\n

The COP24 was intended to implement an international rulebook for the efficient implementation of the Paris Agreement. Last year\u2019s COP, the COP23 in Bonn led by the Fiji government, did the preparatory work in this sense. The role of the COP24 was to bring together these preparatory works into measures that implement the Paris Agreement conclusions into an efficient and concrete manner (see also bpb<\/a>, 2018). The implementation package shall give the Paris Agreement a realistic shape by setting out a path that each country will decide to follow in terms of intensifying its climate protection efforts.<\/p>\n

A rulebook despite some hurdles<\/h2>\n

Despite some hurdles, the rulebook has been formalized. Nearly 200 countries agreed to the rules to limit damaging greenhouse gases, documented by the rulebook. The negotiations ended in overtime because firstly implementing technical aspects was challenging. Besides, there were a few hurdles along the way.<\/p>\n

According to several sources, one of the biggest difficulties was the fact that four oil producing countries, including the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia, questioned the validity of climate science. As known, the USA has announced last year that the country would withdraw from the Paris Agreement but want to have a say furthermore. Such divergence leads to longer dialogue to reach a common understanding.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, there was some disagreements related to voluntary carbon markets (see below: The rulebook \u2013 content-related aspects). The negotiators decided to punt this issue to the next conference, the COP25 in Chile.<\/p>\n

Finally, the parties did not come to a conclusion on how to proceed regarding the financial support for poorer countries that are currently affected the most by climate change (related to the statements above: see also CNN<\/a>, 2018 and TIME<\/a>, 2018).<\/p>\n

The rulebook \u2013 content-related aspects<\/h2>\n

Main points of the rulebook are (see euronews<\/a>, 2018):<\/p>\n