Updated
After two weeks of bruising negotiations, officials
from almost 200 countries now agree on universal, transparent rules that
will govern efforts to cut emissions and curb global warming.
Key points:
- Most countries now have a common rulebook to cap global warming between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius
- Delegates brought Brazil to heel after it argued in favour of opaque emissions reporting
- Efforts to enshrine more ambitious emissions reduction is postponed until 2019
The deal agreed upon at UN climate talks in Poland — otherwise know as COP24 — enables countries to put into action the principles in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
It came after last-minute snags forced negotiators in Katowice to go into extra time, prompting a 30-hour delay.
"Through this package, you have made a thousand little steps forward together," said Michal Kurtyka, a senior Polish official chairing the talks.
What exactly did they agree to?
Countries have agreed on a 156-page rulebook, which is broken down into themes such as how countries will report and monitor their national pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions and update their emissions plans.
Poor countries also secured assurances on getting greater predictability about financial support to help them cut emissions, adapt to inevitable changes — such as sea level rises — and pay for damages that have already happened.
While not everyone is happy with everything, the process is still on track and it is something to build on, several ministers said.
"The majority of the rulebook for the Paris Agreement has been created, which is something to be thankful for," said Mohamed Adow, climate policy expert at Christian Aid."But the fact countries had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the finish line shows that some nations have not woken up to the urgent call of the IPCC report [on the consequences of global warming]."
Some key details of the agreement weren't finalised
To the frustration of environmental activists and some countries who were urging more ambitious climate goals, negotiators delayed decisions on two key issues until next year in an effort to get a deal on the table.That included a decision on the mechanics of an emissions trading system and the issue of raising ambitions on climate change.
There was also disagreement over an IPCC report
The talks in Poland took place against a backdrop of growing concern among scientists that global warming on Earth is proceeding faster than governments are responding to it.
Record-breaking fires from California to Queensland and Sweden shone a spotlight on some of the forthcoming climate extremes that these talks are designed to limit.
A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that while it would be possible to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, this would require a dramatic overhaul of the global economy, including a shift away from fossil fuels.
Alarmed by efforts to include this in the final text of the meeting, the oil-exporting nations of the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait blocked an endorsement of the IPCC report mid-way through this month's talks in the Polish city of Katowice.
They refused to use the word "welcome" in association with the findings of the report.
That prompted uproar from vulnerable countries like small island nations and environmental groups.
The final text at the UN talks omits a previous reference to specific reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and welcomes the "timely completion" of the IPCC report, not its conclusions.
And a deadlock with Brazil delayed proceedings
At the 11th hour, ministers also managed to break a deadlock between Brazil and other countries over the accounting rules for the monitoring of carbon credits.Economists believe that an international trading system could be an effective way to drive down greenhouse gas emissions and raise large amounts of money for measures to curb global warming.
But Brazil wanted to keep the piles of carbon credits it had amassed under an old system that developed countries say wasn't credible or transparent.
Among those that pushed back hardest was the US, despite President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord and his promotion of coal as a source of energy.
So what was the US role in the talks?
Elliot Diringer of the Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions, a Washington-based think tank, said the US role in the talks had been "somewhat contradictory"."[They were] pushing coal and dissing science on the one hand, but also working hard in the room for strong transparency rules," he said.
When it came to closing potential loopholes that could allow countries to dodge their commitments to cut emissions, "the US pushed harder than nearly anyone else for transparency rules that put all countries under the same system, and it's largely succeeded".
"Transparency is vital to US interests," added Nathaniel Keohane, a climate policy expert at the Environmental Defence Fund.He noted that breakthrough in the 2015 Paris talks happened only after the US and China agreed on a common framework for transparency.
"In Katowice, US negotiators have played a central role in the talks, helping to broker an outcome that is true to the Paris vision of a common transparency framework for all countries that also provides flexibility for those that need it," Mr Keohane said, calling the agreement "a vital step forward in realising the promise of the Paris accord".
ABC/wires
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