COP22 - a moment to rethink the unexpected

This time around COP is early, and to be frank, this is keeping up with recent developments in terms of urgency and action. This COP (COP22) will be an Africa COP, to be held in Marrakech, Morocco. As you read this, the world is preparing for a historic and unexpected instance. 

The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015, the agreement was then opened for sign-on by global leaders on 22 April 2016, and following exceptional accelerated ratification by 81 countries, it will enter into force on 04 November 2016, at COP22.

We are approaching an important crossroad at this COP. Critical issues still need to be resolved in order for the global community to successfully implement the historic package agreed at COP21 in Paris last year. A successful COP21 was critical - this was where a post-2020 international climate agreement was to be finalised, agreed and adopted by the parties (governments) of the UNFCCC; it was to be the turning point in international multilateral negotiations. The significance of the success of COP21 could not have been understated. 

But in order for the global binding agreement from COP21 to be reached, there were a few things left to the wind, several of which were mandated to be settled at COP22. The Paris COP laid the foundations for global collective action and delivered an implementation tool to the convention like no previous COP meeting. It is with this in mind that the focus for COP22 in Marrakech has shifted to what is called a capacity building COP, or if you wish, an implementation COP. 

Given that the Paris Agreement’s entry into force has been significantly fast tracked from the initial 2020 milestone, there is unequivocal pressure for COP22 participating parties to establish at the meeting in November, a clear work plan for the Ad hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement, which has been mandated to draw up the ‘rule-book’ for the Paris Agreement. The ‘rule-book’ will then need to be populated and translated into sets of modalities and procedures by the CMA (Conference of the Parties meeting under the Paris Agreement) ahead of the actual implementation phase. It is of critical importance that the modalities and procedures are discussed during COP22, without which, the implementation of the Paris Agreement simply cannot proceed.

The groundwork for implementation of the Paris Agreement needs to happen now - it requires thoughtful deliberation to be able to realise successful implementation by all participating countries from 2020. But it cannot be forgotten that the long-established pre-2020 ambitions still need to be addressed and actioned upon, and in fact, the eventual success of the Paris Agreement hinges on this. COP22 should be the place where some level of finality is reached on the steps for resolving pre-2020 ambition. 

With respects to what needs to take place post-2020, governments need time now to negotiate and agree, amongst other things, procedures and modalities for binding articles in the agreement such as those that relate to climate finance flows for pre-2020 and post-2020, provision of guidance on harmonisation and submission of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC/NDCs) and the process to which adaptation efforts will be recognised. Secondly, clarity on how the global stocktake (of climate action thus far) will work and what it will consider is key in generating the necessary ambition and communicating areas of disquiet in achieving the objectives and purpose of the agreement.

Beyond this, ambiguity remains over how the transparency framework (for tracking and establishing emissions reductions and financial support) will operate in light of increasing developing country concerns that there are a plethora of administrative obligations born from the convention and agreement. As such any further obligations of an administrative kind, if not synchronised, will act as barriers to achieving agreed aims and NDCs. 

Furthermore, what are the rules and procedures that will govern the compliance mechanism of the Paris Agreement? At what point will the said mechanism be triggered and what steps or considerations will be employed in determining the means of facilitating compliance? 
Lastly, it is imperative to have clarity on the financial support that developing nations will receive in order to accomplish their mitigation and adaptation contributions, as well as lucidity on the information that is used to track climate finance,  required in order to determine mobilised and provided support.  

Marrakech presents an opportunity for South Africa to reiterate its intention to ratify the Paris Agreement. Post COP17 in Durban, South Africa has maintained a proactive stance and was integral in ensuring that an agreement at COP21 was reached. South Africa needs to continue on this positive trajectory and continue to champion inclusive participation in decision making processes, along with ratifying the Paris Agreement. The caution that must be communicated to the climate community is that, given the constitutional democracy that South Africa has, ratification of the Paris Agreement requires a domestication process that is transparent and open to public participation. Domesticating a transformative agreement like the Paris Agreement requires due diligence and time.  

The Paris Agreement offers each party to the UNFCCC an opportunity to signal its transition to a low-carbon economy.  South Africa’s legislative process has to consider the impact of the agreement on domestic processes related to planning and infrastructure development. When South Africa made its last commitment to the international climate change community, it led to a shift in domestic affairs.  For instance, the formulation of South Africa’s commitment, as stated in the COP16 pledge (Copenhagen), formed the basis of South Africa’s climate change policy. The policy underpins all development planning, with implications on many levels, from energy planning to spatial planning and economic competitiveness.

Thus it stands to reason, that an agreement such as the Paris Agreement would necessitate that South Africa undergoes an evaluation of its domestic climate change governance (with the view of enacting climate change-specific legislation) ahead of any implementation.
COP22 offers a second chance to not only South Africa but also other participating parties, to make more inclusive and informed decisions. It provides a platform for countries to re-visit the rules that govern the international climate change agreement under the Convention, and develop implementable action plans.

COP22 also a second chance for the international community to abide by the principles of inclusive participation. One way of making sure of this is for the international community to recognise the purpose and significance of domestication and that there is a need to accommodate parties (such as South Africa) that are in the process of domestication. This would be achieved by convening and then immediately suspending the CMA until a future date so as to provide the APA the necessary time to complete its mandate. 

This is it. COP22 can continue the momentum of a truly new global climate change paradigm, or it could be the reoccurrence of the same old bottlenecks. Without tangible outcomes towards inclusive climate change action, post-2020 implementation will be riddled with the same flaws and inconsistencies that permeated previous climate change instruments. 

[The author, Happy Khambule, will be one of the delegates attending COP in Marrakech in November. He is a Policy & Research Coordinator at the Cape Town based “Project 90 by 2030” and holds a Fellowship awarded by the Environmental Entrepreneurs Support Initiative of the Global Risk Governance Programme, Law Faculty, University of Cape Town.]

TERMINOLOGY/ ACCRONYMS
•    APA: Ad hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement
•    CMA: The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement 
•    COP: Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC: UNFCCC COPs are held annually, and referred to by number (e.g. COP22) or by the city in which they were held (e.g. Durban, Paris)
•    INDC: Intended Nationally Determined Contributions: Countries’ contributions to addressing climate change as communicated to the UNFCCC
•    NDC: Nationally Determined Contributions: INDC becomes NDC on entry into force of the Paris Agreement
•    UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change