Operating guidelines for Paris Agreement adopted at COP24

All governments adopted the Paris Agreement Work Programme, or the operating guidelines for the Paris Agreement, at the COP24 here on Saturday (local time).

"The approval of the Paris Agreement Work Programme at COP24 in Katowice is the foundation for a new process in Climate Action. Ambition will be at the centre of the Climate Summit I am convening in September. It's time to show strengthened ambition to defeat climate change," United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres tweeted right after the landmark decision.

Also known as the 'Katowice Climate Package', the guidelines are designed to operationalise the climate change regime contained in the Paris Agreement which was signed in 2016. It will also promote international cooperation and encourage greater ambition, according to an official press release.

The package further contains guidelines which operationalise the transparency framework, guidelines which relate to the conducting of the Global Stocktake of the effectiveness of climate action in 2023, guidelines to assess progress on the development and transfer of technology, amongst other things.

"They incorporate the fact that countries have different capabilities and economic and social realities at home while providing the foundation for ever increasing ambition," Patricia Espinosa, UN's Climate Chief, stated while referring to the guidelines.

The countries can now establish national systems which are needed for implementing the Paris Agreement as of 2020.

The countries, however, could not agree on the final details of the market mechanisms contained in article six of the Paris Agreement. Hence, the details regarding the same will now be finalised in the coming year with a view to adopting them at COP25, or the next UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Chile.

Furthermore, World Bank pledged USD 200 billion in climate action funding for the period 2021-2025.

Apart from this, many developed countries pledged financial support to enable developing countries to act on climate change, with Germany and Norway announcing that they would double their contribution towards the Green Climate Fund. The Adaptation Fund also received a total of USD 129 million at the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Katowice.