Australia ratifies #ParisAgreement as #COP22 meets

Waking up in Marrakech to the news that Australia has stayed the course and ratified the Paris Agreement. Welcome news after Trump was elected President of the United States promising to wind back United States climate action. See my article on the response from climate NGOs to Trump's election.

I commented at the end of October of Australia's efforts to ratify the treaty. It was leaked in a tweet by French Environment Minister Segolene Royal that it might be done by Novenber 15. They got it done five days earlier, in time for the high level ministerial meeting at COP22 next week.

The ratification is significant as it is for both the Paris Agreement and the Doha Amendment. The Doha Amendment establishes the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol up to 2020. As of 7 November 2016, 72 nations had ratified the Doha amendment.

It also comes at a time providing a small ray of hope to attendees at the climate talks in Marrakech after the US election results and Trump's policy threats to withdraw from the Paris Agreement (difficult though that might be)

Doha talks fail to cut emissions, Kyoto Protocol extended to 2020

Climate Negotiations are over for another year with little progress in Doha by any one's measure as the scientific statements on climate change and the impacts we are already feeling as evidenced in record Arctic melting, and extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy and Typhoon Bopha, growing much stronger.

We are hurtling along, actually accelerating, heading for a climate cliff towards a chaotic and dangerous future and negotiators think we can put on the brakes at the last minute. Unfortunately what action the global community takes using an agreement negotiated by 2015 to come into effect by 2020 will be far too little too late. Climate physics will trump all the hot air in climate policy negotiations.

It is the failure of leadership and ambition of industrialised countries like the United States, Canada and Australia in making the deep cuts to emissions necessary which is hampering and sometimes actively obstructing progress. The Bali roadmap in 2007 adopted the scientific projections of 25 to 40 percent emission cuts by industrialised countries on 1990 levels by 2020 for a 50 percent chance of not exceeding 2 degrees of warming.

Related: Photos by World Resources Institute | Photos by Oxfam | The Verb: Climate March in Doha | The Verb: COP18 Actions