Global climate meet begins in Bonn

BONN — Diplomats, scientists and environmentalists from 195 countries on Monday started negotiations at the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany, with the aim of drafting out operating guidelines for the Paris agreement.

A Jordanian delegation headed by Minister of Environment Yaseen Khayyat is attending the global meet.

The guidelines will detail how nations can reach and achieve the goals announced in the Paris agreement, which set a target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C at the most, by the end of the century.

In her opening address of the COP23, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Patricia Espinosa said that now that 169 countries have ratified the Paris Agreement, it is time to move to the implementation phase to truly address climate change and sustainable development.

She said that the COP23 is being held this year with a "greater sense of urgency", citing the World Meteorological Organisation's new report that expects 2017 to be one of the hottest three years on record.

Espinosa indicated that long-term indicators of climate change, such as carbon dioxide concentrations, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification, among other phenomena, will continue to expand, unless governments take action.

She warned that national pledges only bring a third of the reduction in emissions needed by 2030 to meet climate targets.

“The message cannot get any clearer. We no longer have the luxury of time. We must act now… this right here, right now,  is where we begin,” Espinoza said, referring to the COP23.

Delegates of the participating nations will be negotiating specific goals at the event, which is presided by Fiji, the first island nation to preside over a COP.

The delegates are expected to define the structure for the implementation of the Paris agreement, in order to strengthen its impact and achieve its goals for countries that ratified it, pledging to fulfil their commitments by 2020.

Negotiators at the conference will set up guidelines that ensure the agreement promotes transparency in action, in support as well as resilience and adaptation.

They will also be checking on the progress of the delivery of $100 billion of support for developing countries by 2020, in addition to bringing into force the Doha Amendment of the first international emission reduction treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, according to the UNFCCC.

The participants also aim at drawing up international standards on ways to measure carbon emissions and to set new and more ambitious goals to reduce emissions after 2020.