The environment: climate change, the Paris agreement and next steps

Published on 23/11/2016

In an ever changing environmental and sustainable context, October and November 2016 were relatively busy months for the experts from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and stakeholders attending two key events focusing on a very current topic: climate change and the Paris Agreement. From 17 to 20 October, LIST represented Luxembourg in Bangkok, Thailand, at the 44th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and attended the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22), held from 7 to 18 November in Marrakesh, Morocco.

In the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), LIST supports the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure (MDDI) and is represented by a team of climatology experts. The Institute's role is to be an interface between pure science and the political sphere.

Focus on the scientific sphere - Report on climate change

Dr Andrew Ferrone, a LIST climatology expert appointed by the MDDI, attended the sessions of the IPCC intended to lay the groundwork for the publication of the sixth assessment cycle reports on climate change. The main assessment report is slated for publication in 2021-2022. It will contain a review of the scientific literature on projected future changes and their impacts, possible responses designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation strategies. The IPCC also decided to take account of the UNFCCC's decisions in the context of the Paris Agreement. The results will help to inform governments ahead of the first global review of climate policies scheduled for 2023.

This report will be supplemented by three special reports: one concerns the impacts of a temperature rise limited to 1.5°C and possible responses designed to achieve this goal; a second special report will discuss the impacts of global warming on the oceans and the cryosphere; and the third will address the impacts on land management, agriculture and food security, among other areas.

The key point of October's plenary session was for the represented governments to reach a consensus decision on the contents of the 1.5°C report. This decision was based on a meeting of experts.

Focus on the political sphre or predicting climate change by 2100

After Bangkok the next stop was Marrakesh for COP 22, where the delegations of the 197 Parties – including the Luxembourg delegation chaired by the Minister for the Environment, Carole Dieschbourg – civil society and the global media gathered to address a common topic: accelerating ratification of the Paris Agreement.

The Paris climate agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 following the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) at the UNFCCC, and took effect on 4 November 2016, less than one year later. The necessary threshold for the entry into force of the agreement was 55 countries accounting for at least 55% of greenhouse gas emissions; at the time of writing 113 countries have ratified it, including Luxembourg. Luxembourg officially filed its ratification instrument on 4 November 2016 after it was approved by the Council of State and Parliament. Dr Ferrone of LIST was one of the European Union's negotiators on the scientific and technical aspects of the Agreement. This agenda item evaluated how the IPCC's reports could inform global reviews of climate policies scheduled to begin in 2023.

On 11 November, the European Commission organised an event on the fringes of COP22 in which LIST also took part: "Global Perspectives on Energy and Climate". This working group's goal was to examine the effects of global energy policies on greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was invited to present its recently published "Green Energy Choices" report, to which Thomas Gibon (LIST) contributed as part of his doctoral thesis at NTNU in Norway. Thomas presented the results of the report on behalf of the author, who is none other than his PhD supervisor, Prof. Edgar Hertwich.