What comes next? Priorities for COP22
Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.
What comes next? Overall, recent media coverage is indicating that the priorities for the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) will be accelerated action and implementation of the Paris Agreement (reached during COP21). What will this entail? Here are some of breakthroughs we may see in Marrakech:
- Climate justice: Bringing global attention to the urgent need to prioritize climate issues affecting vulnerable African and island states.
- Financial mechanisms: Ironing out the details of cap-and-trade schemes, which many of the member parties have adopted as part of their national strategies to reach emissions reduction targets.
- Resilience: Producing an action plan on how developed countries will financially assist vulnerable states to address the effects of climate change – which are felt on a much large scale than we are dealing with in Canada – while improving resilience (the ability to return to stability after a shock). Concerns about the impacts of climate change on agriculture in African countries will be brought to the forefront.
- Local action: Assembling local organizations, including civil society, government institutions, and private-sector parties, across Morocco to allow for discussion and collaboration to emerge in advance of the official COP22 meetings; this year, the Moroccan Coalition for Climate Justice has taken on the role of a local organizer. In the days remaining before COP22, the MCCJ is bringing together the country’s 12 regions, its regional councils, civil society, academia and the private sector to produce 12 regional environment and climate action plans.” Details here.
- Strength in numbers: Supporting the mobilization of state and non-state actors in the climate action agenda.
Recent CBC coverage on the state of cap-and-trade among member parties: “We’re entering a new phase in carbon pricing and emissions trading,” – University College London professor Michael Grubb.
Sustainable Innovation Forum
Like last year, there will be several events happening concurrently in the COP host city. One event whose proceedings you may want to follow the the Sustainable Innovation Forum – the largest business-focused event taking place on 14-15 November at the Four Seasons Marrakech, Morocco. The Forum will bring together global business leaders to catalyze cross-sector partnerships and accelerate low-carbon innovation.
This year’s agenda will centre on supporting and scaling up sustainable innovation as well as developing support systems for the emerging green economy. We also anticipate that the Forum will revisit last year’s hot topics of carbon markets and pricing, low-carbon city policies, decarbonizing energy supply, and funding tools for energy alternatives.
Who else is taking part in COP22?
Like last year, many member countries, including Canada, will be sending a Youth Contingent to Marrakech to take part in COP22. Youth voices are often the ones who surface difficult questions, like – what do global climate agreements actually mean on the ground? Who will benefit now, and who will have to wait until many years down the road to see any tangible results? How is each country’s financial contribution decided?
Here is just one of many youth reflections from COP21 in Paris that brings up some of the unanswered questions for an agreement that has been declared momentous, yet is still very much up in the air.
However, youth voices also bring optimistic perspectives, especially when it comes to the power of citizen-led action and building momentum to shift away from carbon-fuelled economies at the grassroots level. As one of the members of last year’s Canadian Youth Delegation wrote, “It’s this [on-the-ground], people-powered pressure that yielded the bit of progress we saw at COP21 to happen, and it’s this pressure that will continue to build community-led renewables, block pipelines and coal mines, rebuild food systems, see land rights and title returned to Indigenous peoples, and lead to the hundreds of other small victories that will add up to a world with a fighting chance.
Learn about the The Canadian Youth Delegation as they represent the demands of a generation working to create a just, safe, and livable future for all.
Take action!
There are many ways that you can take action at school to do your part for the climate. Here are a few to get you started:
- Visit the COP22 I’m Eco-Friendly page for ideas on eco-friendly behaviours at home, at work, and in public spaces. Adapt them at school!
- See our Climate Leadership page for four easy ways to take climate action, or to amplify what you’re already doing as part of your EcoSchools program.
- Register for the Climate Leadership Contest in which schools commit to a climate-friendly action either leading up to, during, or after COP22 (November 7-18) for the chance to win $500 for a new eco-initiative in the 2016-17 school year.
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