Marrakech Partnership demonstrates global climate action at COP23
Emilie Prattico, Director of Development, We Mean Business
The Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, launched at COP22 in Morocco, is intended to enable non-state actors to “act further, faster, and together” to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Building on the strong momentum of civil society’s contribution both to mitigation and adaptation, the partnership aims to demonstrate the work achieved by non-state actors towards limiting the global temperature rise to below 2 degrees. This work is in the key areas of water, agriculture, energy, human settlements, oceans, transport, forests, industry, finance, innovation and resilience.
Through enhanced cooperation between around 70 coalitions and 600 organizations throughout the year, the partnership defined its priorities for collaborative action, high-level advocacy, and engagement at UNFCCC sessions to advance the progress of climate action during COP23.
Culminating in a five-day program of well over 100 events demonstrating how cities, regions, businesses and investors are working with governments and the UN system to implement the Paris Agreement, the Marrakech Partnership sends a very clear signal to participants, decision-makers, and the public beyond Bonn – climate action is under way at a faster pace than ever.
The We Mean Business coalition and all its core partners advanced the voice of business throughout the year at meetings and again during this series of events.
For agriculture, it became clear that investing faster and further in agricultural climate action and supporting the sustainable livelihoods of small-scale farmers was at the core of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. For this, recommendations and commitments were made to:
- Scale up public and private climate finance flows to agriculture
- Incentivize public-private partnerships
- Strengthen a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder dialogue
- Invest in knowledge and information
- Build capacity to address barriers to implement climate action
Transport is a key sector for companies to contribute to climate action. Indeed, the sector contributes about one quarter of all energy-related CO2 emissions and about 15-17% of the entire spread of human-caused CO2 emissions. Under a business-as-usual scenario, transport-related CO2 emissions could grow from 6-7 gigatonnes to 16-18 gigatonnes by 2050. All of the initiatives related to transport falling under the auspices of the Marrakech Partnership can be found here – to which are added five new initiatives launched during, or in the run up to, COP23:
- below50 – Growing the global market for the world’s most sustainable fuels, led by World Business Council for Sustainable Development
- EcoMobility Alliance – Ambitious cities committed to sustainable transport
- EV100 – Accelerating the transition to electro-mobility, led by The Climate Group
- Walk21 – Valuing and delivering more walkable communities
- Transforming Urban Mobility Initiative – Accelerating implementation of sustainable urban transport development and mitigation of climate change
Throughout the year, all partners compiled the Yearbook of Global Climate Action 2017 taking stock of climate action undertaken around the globe which was presented to Antonio Guteres, Secretary General of the UN, and to the Parties, on the 15th November. It showcases the rate and the scale of climate action on the ground in favour of mitigation and adaptation globally. This Sends the clear signal that non-state actors are the engine behind ambitious results.