The 2015 Paris Agreement that aims to radically curb worldwide greenhouse gas emissions (GhG) can now be implemented with gusto thanks to the approval by nearly 200 countries of the rules that implement the Agreement.
Meeting in Katowice, Poland, member countries of the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference finally agreed on rules to implement the Paris Agreement after often contentious debates highlighted by the Trump administration's disavowal of climate change.
The new rules will come into force in 2020. The agreed-upon steps constitute the rulebook on how governments will measure, and report on their emissions-cutting efforts.
The new rules are contained in a 156-page rulebook broken down into themes. These themes include how countries will report and monitor their national pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions and update their emissions plans.
The Paris Agreement's long-term goal is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. It also seeks to limit the increase to 1.5°C since this will greatly reduce the risks and effects of worsening climate change.
The 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference is the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24). It's informally known as the Katowice Climate Change Conference and was held from Dec. 2 to 15.
Proponents of the new rules consider them a good foundation for countries to go about implementing the Paris Agreement.
It is not easy to find agreement on a deal so specific and technical, said Michal Kurtyka, who headed the talks. He said that through this package, countries "have made a thousand little steps forward together. You can feel proud."
Before the Katowice talks began, many expected the deal might not be as robust as it needed to be. The unity palpable at the Paris talks has weakened, mainly due to Trump's ignorant opposition to the existence of climate change and global warming.
One of the talk's leaders complained about the fact countries had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the finish line. He said this shows that some nations -- especially Trump's America -- have not woken up to the urgent call of the report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC in October warned that keeping the Earth's temperature rise to 1.5°C will need "unprecedented changes" in every aspect of society.
