WRI Helps Set Paris Agreement in Motion
WRI expert analysis and recommendations on how to put the Paris Agreement on climate change into action informed the so-called Paris Rulebook adopted at COP24 in Katowice, Poland. Together with WRI research and outreach to help mobilize climate finance and increase ambition on climate commitments by 2020, this work informed the Katowice Package that set the Paris Agreement in motion.
The Challenge
When 195 countries adopted the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015, they agreed to accept a detailed framework – the Paris Rulebook — to activate the agreement by 2018. The Rulebook is critical to taking Paris from idea to action, including guidelines for countries to track and report on their climate commitments, mobilize finance and increase ambition. All three components—robust rules, increased finance and strengthened action—are critical to avoiding catastrophic climate change.
WRI’s Role
WRI played an essential role in ensuring that COP24 addressed all three elements. Since 2015, WRI has collaborated with partners in developing and developed countries to conduct targeted research that informed stakeholders on these three key issues. Our analysis offered valuable insights to negotiators, civil society and the media, helping to bolster the chances of reaching a strong outcome in Katowice.
On the Paris Rulebook, WRI convened experts, negotiators, policymakers and other stakeholders through the Project for Advancing Climate Transparency to develop proposals for robust rules on transparency and accountability. In Making Finance Consistent with Climate Goals, WRI and partners offered ways to put financial elements of the Paris Agreement into practice. On ambition, WRI analysis identified options for countries to enhance their climate commitments while improving lives and boosting economic growth, drawing on the research of the WRI-led New Climate Economy. As an implementing partner for the NDC Partnership and through other initiatives, WRI helped countries track their progress and identify opportunities to increase the ambition of their climate commitments. WRI also helped launch the Step Up for Climate Action campaign for increased ambition and coordinated civil society strategy contribution to the Talanoa Dialogue, the 2018 stocktaking process.
The Outcome
COP24 delegates agreed on a Katowice Package that outlined the rules needed to bring the Paris Agreement fully to life, as well as making progress on climate ambition and finance informed by WRI’s proposals and recommendations. This package lays a foundation for countries to implement their climate plans and step up their commitments by 2020, increasing the likelihood that countries can get on a pathway to achieving the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F).