COP23, which brought together delegates from nearly 200 countries in Bonn, from 6 to 21 November, detailed the process for committing signatories to the Paris Agreement, which will enter into force in 2020. Even if the question of financing the Green Climate Fund remains unresolved, its principle is confirmed.
“Make our Planet Great Again” sign from the French COP23 delegation – Photo credit: Ministère de l’Ecologie
The representatives of participating countries agreed in Bonn to hold a year of “dialogue” in order to draw up, by the end of 2018, a collective assessment of their greenhouse gas emissions.
The objective is to encourage countries to review their commitments, still insufficient, to allow the world to remain below 2°C of global warming as stipulated in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This dialogue should be “constructive and solution-oriented”.
Starting in 2020, States will have to provide their second national contribution, which sets their objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions over five years, an exercise that will then be renewed every five years. The same year, they will also have to publish their development strategy for reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
According to a report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency during the conference, many countries now have higher renewable energy targets than those indicated in their initial contributions.
Smart Grids and microgrids projects have been present since COP 21 in the contributions of several States: these famous “nationally determined planned contributions” (SCPNDs), in which States detail their greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Smart Grids and microgrids could thus be eligible for funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCC), which aims to channel funding from developed countries to climate change adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries.
States will take stock in 2018 of the progress of the $100 billion per year promised by developed countries from in 2020. The Green Climate Fund announced during COP23 that it had already committed $2.2 billion in spending.
It will be up to COP24, which will meet under the Polish Presidency in Katowice in December 2018, to make progress on this issue of funding.
ITEMS International for Think Smartgrids