COP24 blog: Parties decide "solid" rulebook
Delegations adopt Paris rulebook, German NGOs criticise lack of ambition
Parties at COP24 have adopted the implementation rules to the Paris Agreement (Paris rulebook). NGOs from Germany welcomed the “solid rulebook” which was going to enhance transparency and trust between nations created by the parties in Katowice but criticised the comparatively weak incorporation of the 1.5°C report by the IPCC. Decisions and negotiations on the “markets article” (Article 6 Paris Agreement) have been postponed to 2019.
"I'm very relieved that we were able to do this. The last hours were not easy," said environment minister Svenja Schulze after the gavel fell in Katowice. The German government delegation highlighted that for the first time, from 2024 onwards, there will be common binding minimum standards for reporting by nations on their greenhouse gas emissions or other climate protection measures. "We have achieved that, for the first time, not only half the world, but the whole world can be scrutinised when it comes to climate action," Schulze said in a press release.
With the new rulebook it is "impossible to whitewash" emissions reduction in the future, said a German government delegate after the conference.
The rulebook was agreed after several countries had delayed the final plenary for hours with individual demands, including Brazil and Turkey. Turkey has wanted to change its official status as a developed country for some time and used the last hours of the negotiations to reopen this issue. A German government source said a small round of countries - France, Germany and Poland - talked with the Turkish delegation about finding alternative solutions in the future.
"The result of COP24 is also a win for multilateralism. In the UN, small states most vulnerable to climate change have a voice," Christoph Bals, head of NGO Germanwatch said.
Das Ergebnis von #COP24Katowice ist auch ein Erfolg des #Multilateralismus - trotz Sabotage durch US, Saudi Arabia, Brasil. Bei UN haben auch kleine vom Klimawandel besonders betroffene Staaten eine Stimme. Sie haben hier u.a. als @TheCVF für starke Beschlüsse gekämpft. https://t.co/Sc50Kvb9N8 pic.twitter.com/3WjrlU8rji
Clean Energy Wire will collect and publish reactions to the rulebook deal from Germany over the coming days.
The road to the Paris Climate Agreement rulebook
How did we get here?
2015: COP21 - The view from Germany
2018: COP24 in Katowice
Text is out as plenary is postponed to 6pm
Groups of negotiators like Germany's and Luxembourg's environment ministers Svenja Schulze and Carole Dieschbourg had already huddled in the plenary, waiting for the session to start, when it was postponed yet again. Meanwhile, first comments on the latest text emerge.
Bewegung in #Kattowice @COP24 - jetzt wird das @UNFCCC Plenum für eine mögliche Entscheidung einberufen. Deutschland & Luxemburg sind schon mal da mit @SvenjaSchulze68 @DieschbourgC @JochenFlasbarth - etwas geschafft von den langen Verhandlungen, wen wundert’s. #ClimateActionNow pic.twitter.com/bCakeOAly7
— StephanGabrielHaufe (@HaufeStephan) December 15, 2018
EU climate action and energy minister Miguel Arias Cañete has remained silent on Twitter after his announcement this morning that the EU would soon react. Leading candidate for the European Greens Bas Eickhout, however, has said Katowice deliveries are going to be “disappointing” with the current text. A compilation can be found here.
Last part of the text is in. Difficult rulebook issues on market mechanisms (Article 6) are postponed till next year. So higher ambition level moves to September 2019; Rulebook leftovers to November 2019. Katowice deliveries disappointing. May the plenary begin.
— Bas Eickhout (@BasEickhout) December 15, 2018
EU climate ministers met in Katowice to discuss the latest draft texts, according to a spokesperson of the German environment ministry.
Bei der @COP24Katowice @COP24 beginnen jetzt die Beratungen der EU-Klimaschutzminister*innen zum Entwurf des Regelbuches und allen Abschlussdokumenten. Das Plenum mit allen UN-Staaten soll voraussichtlich gegen 12 Uhr zusammen kommen. Weitere Verschiebung möglich.
— StephanGabrielHaufe (@HaufeStephan) December 15, 2018
Officially, the plenary meetings are scheduled to begin at 13:30 CET.
NGOs call on Merkel to back High Ambition Coalition
German NGOs felt the need to appeal to German chancellor Angela Merkel to support a declaration by the High Ambition Coalition, after conflicting statements by her environment minister in Katowice and her energy minister in Berlin.
In an open letter, the environmental organisations Greenpeace, WWF, BUND and Germanwatch jointly addressed Merkel and asked her to stand behind environment minister Schulze. During the conference with the so-called High Ambition Coalition from industrialised and developing countries, she had published a declaration calling for new climate protection commitments by 2020.
Weil @peteraltmaier der deutschen #COP24-Delegation in den Rücken gefallen ist, fordern wir mit @bund_net, @greenpeace_de und @Germanwatch Angela Merkel auf, klarzustellen, dass sie die Ankündigungen ihrer Delegation unterstützt. (Lesbare Version: https://t.co/WFwnpyzBTc) pic.twitter.com/6UIoojbJxX
— WWF Deutschland (@WWF_Deutschland) December 15, 2018
However, economy minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) had pointed out in a German political TV talk show that such things could only be decided by the government as a whole.
Decision pending…
After both the publication of final drafts of the Paris rulebook and the closing plenary meetings at COP24 in Katowice were postponed repeatedly on Friday and throughout last night, the new final closing meetings are now scheduled for 12:00 – 16:00 CET.
The EU said that it received the latest version of the draft agreement just after 9 o`clock, with climate and energy commissioner Arias Canete writing on Twitter that the first EU reaction was “coming soon”.
#COP24 UN climate talks go into overtime. Latest version of the draft agreement just out. EU reaction coming up soon. A deal to make the #ParisAgreement operational is within reach. pic.twitter.com/lX1B48lqtu
— Miguel Arias Cañete (@MAC_europa) December 15, 2018
Other texts are trickling in on the UNFCCC website.
