Uncertainty over US’ future overshadows COP22 climate talks

The United Nations’ 2016 climate change summit, COP22, made some progress in paving the way for 2018 – the next major milestone for action after the Paris Agreement came into force in early November. But, there is a question mark over proceedings in the form of the arrival of US president-elect Donald Trump, who has previously said he would take the US out of the Paris Agreement.

Despite the shadow of Trump, talks continued and the outcomes reflect the determination of other nations to continue with climate action with or without the US if necessary. COP22 was always going to be about working on the detail of the Paris Agreement, and governments set a deadline of 2018 to complete the rule book for its implementation. This ‘operation manual’ will provide detail on measuring and accounting for emissions, providing climate finance and aiding technology transfer from rich to poor nations.

The negotiations saw some progress on finance, climate change adaptation and the issue of ‘loss and damage’ – how to financially compensate for harm caused by climate change. A number of nations also took the opportunity to announce their ratification of the Paris Agreement at the conference, though the agreement had already become law the week before COP22 following 55 nations ratifying it covering 55% of global emissions.

Meanwhile, outside the core negotiations a series of side announcements and commitments were made by governments and businesses. These included a group of 165 subnational governments under the banner of the ‘Under2Coalition’ pledging to reduce their emissions by 80% by 2020; and the launch of the ‘NDC Partnership’ – a coalition of countries and institutions working together to ensure countries receive support to meet their climate and sustainable development goals.

Several countries – Canada, Germany, Mexico and the US – also announced their long-term greenhouse gas emission development strategies out to 2050.

Clearly the US’ submission is largely academic since it has come from the outgoing Obama administration but, in what has been seen as a response to Donald Trump’s previous threats to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement (see page 11), the UN released a statement – the Marrakesh Action Proclamation – stating that the international community is fully committed to climate action. The US State Department has said that Trump cannot unravel the deal by himself and could become an international outcast if he tries.

A full list of announcements on initiatives undertaken at COP22 is available at unfccc.int