COP 23 sets stage for Coal, Oil showdown at 2018 Poland climate meet

COP 23 ended with some progress and small achievements but contentious coal and oil issues were left to be dealt with next year in Poland, EU’s coal heartland.

Bonn witnessed the launch of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which aims to phase out global coal use by 2050, and the Talanoa Dialogue – a “transparent, inclusive and participatory” dialogue over climate finance, technical knowledge sharing on climate change impact mitigation and more aggressive pre-2020 reductions to national greenhouse gas emissions.

The next major climate event is the French President Emmanuel Macron’s One Planet Summit this December, with the objective of scaling up public and private finance for climate action. Also, in a snub to President Trump, California Governor Jerry Brown will be hosting the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2018 in San Francisco.

However, the key outcome expected from COP 24 will be the finalisation of the Paris Rulebook. As host nation, it will be Poland’s responsibility to ensure the rulebook is finalised and accepted by all, and it is reportedly already talking to Fiji (Chair at COP 23) and Morocco (Chair at COP 22) for cooperation. Experts think achieving the target will be tough, given the often acrimonious debates between the developed and developing nations on the mechanisms needed to tackle climate change.

Incidentally, Poland – under intense pressure from the EU – is now willing to ratify the Doha Amendment within 2017 and reduce its carbon emissions.

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