GUIDE TO THE NEGOTIATIONS – From Paris to Marrakech or the challenge of implementation – Twenty-second Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22, CMP12, CMA1) – Marrakech, Morocco, 7-18 November 2016

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The reality of climate change is acknowledged unanimously. However, and in spite of international negotiations, it has to be recognised that the progress made over recent decades has been too modest with regard to the many outstanding challenges and the urgent need to take action. Scientific analyses highlight gradual disruptions and a global rise in temperatures over the last two centuries, at an increasing pace during recent decades. They are mainly caused by greenhouse gas emissions associated with our consumption and production modes, with consequences that are already irreversible.

The agreement reached in Paris, in December 2015, during the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is of critical importance in the climate negotiation process.

Fruit of a momentum created in 2011 with the launch of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, with the principal mandate of preparing a legal instrument for 2015, the Paris Agreement realises States? universal commitment to face up to climate change. While respecting national circumstances and the UNFCCC?s founding principle of shared but differentiated responsibilities, the Agreement reaffirms the necessary raising of ambition and measures to take in order for our societies to develop on low-carbon, resilient and united pathways. However, and even if it is announced as officially binding, the challenge of implementation still remains, and the next steps are equally important in transforming the collective vision and ambition into reality on the ground.

The success of the Marrakesh Conference is therefore as crucial as establishing the first universal agreement on Climate and the now completed process of its entry into force, making it legally binding. The international community faced an important initial challenge, but the goals now need to be made workable, by dealing with the challenges of implementation.

With the aim of helping participants to better understand the challenges of COP 22, this guide analyses COP 21 in detail and deciphers the Paris Agreement (Part I). The issues regarding the permanent subsidiary bodies are presented (Part II), before placing into perspective the major subjects of debate, which are central to COP 22 (Part III). Boxes supplemented by information diagrams and themed sheets provide the reader with all the keys to understand the negotiations.

Although this publication is intended especially for negotiators from Francophone countries, it should also be a useful tool for all other delegates.

The negotiations, which remain the competence of the State Parties to the UNFCCC, will not succeed without the mobilisation of each and everyone of them. The time for the collective is on the agenda and Marrakesh, heralded as the Conference of implementation, must take the success further.

This document has been prepared by ENERGIES 2050 on behalf of the Institut de la Francophonie pour le Développement Durable (IFDD ? Institute of the French-speaking world for Sustainable Development). It does not necessarily represent the viewpoint of one or other of these organisations, nor that of the presidency of the COP 22.

This document has been updated on the basis of information available on 5 October 2016.

This guide is the subject of a Summary for policymakers.