This summit is being characterized as the most important climate meeting since COP21 in 2015 when 196 countries created a vision for a zero-carbon future by adopting the landmark Paris Agreement. The 2018 meeting is intended to iron out the details of how we can make the agreement a reality.
As explained by Micha Kurtyka, president of COP24 and a Polish deputy energy minister, "Without Katowice there is no Paris".
COP24 is all the more important in light of the recent emissions gap report which clearly demonstrated that global leaders are not doing enough to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. These impacts include risks of flooding, Arctic ice melting, sea level rise, species extinction and droughts.
To prevent the worst impacts of climate change we will need to see "rapid and far-reaching transitions" in energy, land, industry and infrastructure. The goal is net-zero carbon emission by 2050 and events will include examples of climate action from cities, states and businesses.
A key objective of COP24 is the creation of guidelines the will detail how the Paris Agreement will be implemented. This is referred to as the Paris Rulebook and it defines how nations track and report their climate plans.
Ambitions must be ratcheted up by 2020 and we will also need to see more investment in climate finance for developing countries including the Green Climate Fund (GFC). One billion in new projects were approved at an October board meeting of the GFC. The goal is a total of $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. This issue is being addressed today (December 10th) at a high-level ministerial dialogue on climate finance.
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