2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference


The 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as the Katowice Climate Change Conference. It was held between 2 and 15 December 2018 in Katowice, Poland. The conference was held in the International Congress Centre. The president of COP24 was Michał Kurtyka. The conference also incorporated the fourteenth meeting of the parties for the Kyoto Protocol, and the third session of the first meeting of the parties for the Paris Agreement which agreed on rules to implement the Agreement. The conference's objective was to have a full implementation of the Paris agreement.

Context

After the United States left the Paris Agreement, China took a leading role by hosting many of the preparatory meetings in the weeks beforehand.
In November 2018, the World Meteorological Organization released a report stating that 2017 atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached 405 parts per million, a level not seen in three to five million years. In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.

Speeches

On 3 December 2018, the noted British naturalist Sir David Attenborough told delegates at the conference that:
On 4 December 2018, 15 year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg addressed the summit and explained the severity of the problem this way:
The same day, the 14th Dalai Lama wrote to the participants of the conference: "Climate change is not a concern of just one or two nations. It is an issue that affects all humanity, and every living being on this earth. This beautiful place is our only home. We have to take serious action now to protect our environment and find constructive solutions to global warming."
Al Gore told delegates they faced “the single most important moral choice in history of humanity”.
António Guterres the Secretary-General of the United Nations told “We’re running out of time. To waste this opportunity would compromise our last best chance to stop runaway climate change. It would not only be immoral, it would be suicidal.” The IPCC special report is a stark acknowledgment of what the consequences of global warming beyond 1.5 degrees will mean for billions of people around the world, especially those who call small island states home. This is not good news, but we cannot afford to ignore it.”
A US energy official, Preston Wells Griffith, senior director for energy and environment, said on 10 December 2018: "We strongly believe that no country should have to sacrifice economic prosperity or energy security in pursuit of environmental sustainability." He added also: "We can achieve all of these goals and they are complementary." During his speech, he reinforced that impression: "Alarmism should not silence realism."
A youth conference with children representing over 30 countries was also held during the conference.

Events

Side events at the conference allow for admitted observers which have limited speaking opportunities, to host side events that are categorized under three categories as part of the Paris Agreement.
The categories include: Enhancing Ambition, Promoting Implementation, and Providing Support to Developing Countries. There are also outside events that are hosted by the UNFCCC secretariat, Parties and observer organizations.
There were 5 thematic days at the conference:
The UNFCCC has created a YouTube account called the "Climate Action Studio" recording side events at the conference.
All side events of COP24 are all archived by the UNFCCC.

Result

The conference agreed on rules to implement the Paris Agreement, which will come into force in 2020, that is to say the rulebook on how governments will measure, and report on their emissions-cutting efforts.
Due to difficulty to reach agreement between parties, some difficult questions such as ways to scale up existing commitments on cutting emissions, ways to provide financial help for poor countries, wording that does not allow double counting and whether countries are doing enough to cut their emissions were postponed to the next conference.
David Waskow, of the World Resources Institute, said the deal was "a good foundation for countries to go about implementing the Paris agreement" and added that "It sets the direction of travel and will spur countries to take action. Now countries need to go home and do their homework, by increasing their commitments ".
Some achievements have been made:
Many say, that there is a “lack of urgency” in the COP decisions, but some good decisions have been made.