The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice welcomes the announcement by the UNFCCC that the number of Parties that have ratified, accepted, or approved the Agreement now covers over 55% per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This includes the biggest and smallest emitters, the richest and the most vulnerable countries.
The early ratification of the Paris Agreement represents an historic milestone for the global response to climate change. But there is still significant work to be done to realise the objectives of the agreement. The current ambition of Parties’ Nationally Determined Commitments is insufficient to meet the core goal of Paris to ‘Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C’. Parties must now come together, in the spirit of climate justice, to ensure that their implementation of the agreement matches the speed and determination showed in their pace to ratify.
Given that the count-down to entry into force has now been formally triggered, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement will take place at the upcoming annual UN climate conference, known as COP22, in Marrakech, Morocco from November 7-18.
The Foundation will continue to push for parties to ensure that the implementation and realisation of the Paris Agreement meets the standards of climate justice and delivers a planet for future generations which has stabilised temperature rise in a way that is equitable, reaches the furthest behind first and sees the right to development achievable for all.