COP 22: as climate change policy gains momentum, the future gets brighter for gas By Alex Forbes
The COP 22 United Nations climate change
it would take at least a couple of years for the
talks in Marrakech last November passed
agreement to come into effect.
without fanfare on the scale that greeted
by at least 55 countries accounting for at
context in which they took place was remark
least 55% of global greenhouse-gas (GHG)
able and their significance for the future of
emissions. That threshold was passed on
the natural gas industry profound. The
October 6, 2016, triggering a 30-day count
industry has long campaigned for a meaningful
down. So, just three days before the COP 22
international climate agreement that would
climate talks in Marrakech began, the Paris
allow gas to assume its rightful place in the
Climate Change Agreement took effect –
global energy mix. In Paris, it was granted
“an unexpectedly rapid result”, commented
that wish and Marrakech was a big step
the secretariat of the UN Framework
towards implementation.
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
When the international community x While attracting less coverage than COP 21 in Paris, COP 22 was well attended by heads of state, governments and ministers from around the world.
For that to happen, it had to be ratified
the previous year’s talks in Paris – but the
“The Paris Agreement’s ambitious and
hammered out the Paris Climate Change
essential goals are now a live reality for every
Agreement in December 2015 – setting a
government,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive
target “to limit global warming to well
Secretary of the UNFCCC. “From today, ever-
below 2°C and as close to 1.5°C as possible
increasing climate action becomes an accepted
to prevent dangerous tipping points in the
responsibility and a central part of the sustain
climate system” – even the optimists thought
able development plans of all countries.”
24 C O P 2 2 : a s c l i m a t e c h a n g e p o l i c y g a i n s m o m e n t u m , t h e f u t u r e g e t s b r i g h t e r f o r g a s
