Environmental groups such as Greenpeace have welcomed the united front displayed by nearly 200 countries in Marrakesh in the face of Donald Trump’s campaign threat to quit the Paris accord on climate…
ADVERTISEMENTEnvironmental groups such as Greenpeace have welcomed the united front displayed by nearly 200 countries in Marrakesh in the face of Donald Trump’s campaign threat to quit the Paris accord on climate change.
The UN negotiations concluded in Morocco in the early hours of Saturday with an agreement to hammer out a rulebook by 2018.
Last year’s Paris Agreement left many details vague, such as how countries will report and monitor national pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The final text also urges rich nations to keep building towards a goal of providing 100 billion dollars a year to help developing countries address climate change.
But some agencies are disappointed by a lack of concrete targets.
“I’m a little worried by the lack of financial support to help poor countries adapt. This conference has been taking place in Africa, it was generally agreed that there should be more money, but in concrete terms unfortunately these decisions failed to materialise,” said Lutz Weischer, team leader on international climate policy at Germanwatch.
Many nations have called on the president-elect, who has called climate change a hoax, to make sure the US remains committed to the international climate framework once President Obama leaves office.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who will host next year’s climate meeting in Germany, “appealed to Trump’:http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38034171 and invited to visit the South Pacific nation to see the effects of stronger storms and rising seas.
The next American president favours redeveloping fossil fuels over renewable energies and has threatened to halt any US taxpayer funds for UN climate change programmes.
On Thursday, governments reaffirmed their commitment to fully implement the Paris accord – which seeks to phase out greenhouse gas emissions this century and to limit a global average temperature rise to “well below” two degrees Celsius.
Euronews correspondent Grégoire Lory reported from Marrakesh:
“All the participants at COP 22 see the Marrakesh declaration as a strong positive sign. It shows also that the election of Donald trump hasn’t dampened the ambitions of international community – even if the text just repeats the pledges already made by the participants to fight climate change.”