The twenty-second United Nations World Climate Conference (Cop 22) opened this morning in Marrakech. More than 20,000 people representing 196 states and hundreds of businesses, NGOs, associations of scientists, local authorities, indigenous peoples and trade unions will take part until 18 November.

The goal: not exceeding +2 degrees centigrade by 2100

Just under a year on from Cop 21 in Paris, the main challenge facing the delegations that will spend two weeks working in Morocco is to make the Agreement signed in France, which entered into force on 4 November, operational. In the French capital, the heads of state and government of the 195 participating nations signed a text setting out the "trajectory" the planet will need to follow if it is to limit the damage caused by climate change. In particular, it will be necessary to keep the rise in average global temperature over land and ocean surfaces to a maximum of +2 degrees centigrade by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial levels. "Pursuing efforts to stay as close as possible to 1.5 degrees," the text specified.

Current commitments are not sufficient

The problem is that, for now, the world is still very far from this goal. Before Cop 21, governments were asked to set out a number of pledges to reduce CO2 emissions, known as INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions). It was the French government itself that raised the first alarm: on the basis of these stated commitments, by 2100 the temperature rise will not be +2 degrees centigrade but +2.7. This estimate was considered overly optimistic by numerous NGOs, which argue that the current INDCs will lead to a significant breach of the 3-degree threshold. For the Earth, this would mean catastrophe. It is precisely for this reason that the same organisations have called for the greenhouse gas emission reduction pledges to be revised as soon as possible.

In Marrakech, "the great challenge will be to specify the rules needed to translate the Paris Agreement into concrete actions, while at the same time indicating a finalisation date for those rules," declared Laurence Tubiana, France's "ambassador", effectively tasked with handing the baton of negotiations to Morocco. The first meeting at which the leaders of the nations participating in Cop 22 will be present is scheduled for 15 November.

The financing knot still to be untied

Alongside the renewal of the INDCs and the discussion on the rules for implementing the Cop 21 Agreement, the third pillar of the Marrakech negotiations will concern the question of financing. That is: with what funds will the considerable costs of adopting the energy and ecological transition across the world be met? In Paris it was decided to guarantee an investment of at least 100 billion dollars a year until 2020. But it will be necessary to understand how to monitor these financial flows, which are intended to benefit above all the Global South — the nations that contribute least to climate change but bear its consequences most heavily. The hope is that the "African context" can in this sense provide the momentum the planet needs.