Turn Paris Agreement into reality: Britain charity

Ahead of the UN climate summit in Marrakesh in Morocco, Britain-based charity Christian Aid on Sunday called for this to be 'renewables COP' where concrete progress can be made on delivering the vision of the Paris Agreement.

'Never before has the world come together with such climate momentum as this summit in Marrakesh,' an official statement quoting Christian Aid's International Climate Lead Mohamed Adow said.

'In the year since the gavel came down on the Paris Agreement we've seen real progress, with nations ratifying the deal at record pace. Just last month we saw further progress with an international accord in Rwanda to phase down climate warming HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons),' he said.

'The Paris Agreement set out the vision and laid actions for after 2020 but now in Marrakesh we need to deal with the crucial period before that date,' he said.

He added: 'We now have a nearly global consensus of the direction that energy and climate policy will be going to create a safe and secure future for our planet. But what is still be to be decided is how quickly this transition will go -- currently it is still moving too slowly to protect the most vulnerable.'

'The Marrakesh summit, taking place on African soil where many of those vulnerable people live, is the perfect place to get that short term shove in the right direction.'

At the Marrakesh Climate Change Conference from November 7-18, nations of the world will continue their work on strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, with the central focus placed on enhancing ambition, promoting implementation and providing support.

With the historic Paris Agreement entering into force on November 4, the Marrakesh conference will host the first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.

The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), opened for signature in 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and later entered into force in 1994.

As of today there are 197 Parties to the Convention (196 states and the European Union), including Palestine which joined in March 2016.

--IANS

vg/pgh/dg