7 November 2016: Just three days after the Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016, the Marrakech Climate Change Conference opened. The rapid entry into force was unexpected, according to the UNFCCC Secretariat, with more than 90 Parties joining the Agreement in the 10 months following its adoption on 12 December 2015. As stated by the UN, this was “extremely swift,” particularly given the thresholds required.

Calling for that “same determination” in implementing both the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “We remain in a race against time.” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called 4 November 2016 “a defining moment in human history,” adding that, for the first time, “a global agreement to turn down the heat on our planet enters into force.”

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called November 4th a defining moment in human history.

Also commenting on the early entry into force of the Paris Agreement, UN Environment Programme (UNEP, or UN Environment) Executive Director Erik Solheim said it shows “a shift to a greener world is irreversible,” but cautioned “we can’t let our foot off the gas,” so to speak, as “we need to do more and do it faster.”

At the Marrakech Climate Change Conference, to be held 7-18 November, Parties to the UNFCCC are convening for the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), and the 45th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 45) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 45). As mandated by the Paris Agreement, the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) will also convene in conjunction with the first session of the COP following entry into force of the Agreement.

During their meetings in Marrakech, the APA, SBI and SBSTA will continue work started at the Bonn Climate Change Conference in May 2016 on a number of issues essential to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The APA will continue consulting on: the features of, accounting for, and facilitating clarity, transparency and understanding of Parties’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs); the adaptation communication, including as a component of NDCs; modalities, procedures and guidelines for the transparency framework; modalities and sources of input for the global stocktake; and modalities and procedures for the committee to facilitate implementation and promote compliance.

In relation to the Paris Agreement, the SBSTA will consider: how the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) can inform the global stocktake; modalities, work programme and functions of the forum on the impact of the implementation of response measures; matters relating to Paris Agreement Article 6 (cooperative approaches); the technology framework; and modalities for the accounting of financial resources provided and mobilized through public interventions.

The SBI’s agenda items related to the Paris agreement include the public registry or registries for NDCs and adaptation communications, as well as the Paris Committee on Capacity-Building.

On 5 October 2016, at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions had deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement with the UN depositary, in New York, US, allowing it to enter into force 30 days later. To date, the Agreement has 100 ratifications and 193 signatories. [UNFCCC Press Release] [UN Press Release] [World Bank President Remarks] [UN Environment Executive Director Remarks] [UNFCCC Marrakech Climate Change Conference Information Hub] [IISD RS Coverage of Marrakech Climate Change Conference]