First Day of The Marrakesh Climate Change Summit – As it Happened

Posts 07 Nov 2016

Welcome to the Monday, 7 November 2016 edition of the Daily Planet’s COP22 live blog!

Drawing on our team on the ground in Marrakesh, social media and press coverage around the world, our digital reporters keep you updated on the latest efforts to accelerate the Paris Agreement’s implementation at the twenty-second UN climate conference in Morocco.

Good morning from Frankfurt

14:23 GMT by Molly Redmond

Good morning everyone, I’ll be your Daily Planet Live Blog reporter this morning. I will be posting updates about the first day of the climate summit in Marrakesh from the Climate Innovation Summit in Frankfurt, one of the official COP22 label events. Tips are welcome via Twitter at @climatekic or e-mail cop22@climate-kic.org.

100 countries have now joined the Paris Agreement

14:25 GMT by Molly Redmond

Kicking the week off with some good news: 100 countries are now formally joined up to the Paris Agreement, it was announced yesterday.

Light show

14:26 GMT by Molly Redmond

To celebrate start of the COP, Marrakesh railway was lit up with a stunning light show.

Mini-Guide

14:26 GMT by Molly Redmond

New to COP? UNFCCC has you covered with this mini-guide to help walk you through the conference.

COP22 acronyms

14:27 GMT by Molly Redmond

COP22 acronyms giving you a headache? The Daily Planet has put together a handy guide to help demystify some of the jargon.

EU press conference

14:30 GMT by Peter Koekoek

Following Molly’s brilliant coverage from Frankfurt this morning despite some technical hiccups (please ignore this morning’s time stamps), I’m taking over the live blog from Toronto.

It’s 3pm in Marrakesh, and the EU is just a few minutes into its first COP22 press conference.

You can technically catch the live stream here, but there seem to be some technical hiccups at the Bab Ighli conference site as well.

Diego Maradona

14:44 GMT by Peter Koekoek

Argentina’s “Golden Boy” is one of the celebrities to lend their star power to COP22 today, Diego Maradona is scheduled to arrive in about 15 minutes.

Solar celebrity

: GMT by Peter Koekoek

You never know who you run into at COP22. One of our reporters in Marrakesh, Climate-KIC’s Kelsey Hunter, caught up with Solar Impulse co-founder Bertrand Piccard today.

Piccard, on of the pilots to fly the solar-powered aircraft around the world, recorded a special video message for Climate-KIC’s global, 24-hour Climathon.

Espinosa’s Top-5 Priorities

15:05 GMT by Peter Koekoek

UNFCCC chief Patricia Espinosa outlined her priorities for COP22 this morning.

She emphasised that although there is cause for celebration, most work still needs to be done: “Achieving the aims and ambitions of the Paris Agreement is not a given.” You can download her full address in PDF format.

She highlighted the following priority areas:

  1. Finance to help developing countries
  2. National climate action plans and their funding and implementation into policies
  3. More support for adaptation to help the most vulnerable communities
  4. Capacity building in developing countries
  5. More engagement with “non-party stakeholders”

US election

15:19 GMT by Peter Koekoek

France24 has published a story with the headline “US election uncertainty overshadows climate talks in Morocco.”

It certainly means the US media will not be paying much attention this week, but the real threat of a Trump presidency potentially crippling the Paris Agreement is also tangible at the summit according to France24 .

If the opinion polls prove to be correct, Marrakesh will be breathing a collective sigh of relief on Wednesday.

‘Young people bring much needed urgency to COP22’

15:33 GMT by Peter Koekoek

Along with “Capacity Building,” “Youth” is one of the official UN themes for side-events in Marrakesh today.

Writing for a blog run by the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London (a Climate-KIC partner), environmental technology student Jeanne Martin expresses her frustration with some of the challenges of international diplomacy.

“What matters most in plenaries is not the protection of our planet, but whether brackets should be added to the sixth word of the 154th paragraph. Procedure gently, albeit effectively, kills purpose,” she writes.

Smile for the Planet

15:55 GMT by Peter Koekoek

During today’s COP22 opening ceremony, the audience used solar-powered flashlights in the shape of an Ethiopian flower to highlight a huge smiling globe.

French climate minister Ségolène Royal, stood next to the globe along with the Moroccan foreign affairs minister, tweeted a video and called the show a symbol for how solar power is within everyone’s reach. Royal also tweeted a photo of the smiling globe, which is part of the Smile For The Planet campaign.

This could be the “African COP”

: GMT by Peter Koekoek

According to an article in the Guardian, Morocco wants to put a spotlight on the impacts of erratic weather patterns on African agriculture.

The piece appears on the global development section of the Guardian website, which is sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, and says Morocco is keen to use its position to make this the “African COP.”

UN Development Programme chief Helen Clark tweeted that Morocco is launching an action plan to help accelerate concrete solutions for the issue.

UNEP head says Paris Agreement is “not good enough”

16:44 GMT by Peter Koekoek

Adding to the pressure at COP22 are comments from UNEP chief Erik Solheim, the former Norwegian environment minister.

Solheim says that although the Paris Agreement and the recent HFC phase-down deal show “strong commitment,” and will slow down climate change, it is “not good enough” to avoid serious consequences. He made is comments last week as part of a UNEP statement about its annual Emissions Gap report.

Not so boring climate action

17:09 GMT by Peter Koekoek

If you’re at the conference site and in need of some inspiration, head over to the Green Zone to check out some of the latest advances in electric vehicle innovation.

Back tomorrow

17:33 GMT by Peter Koekoek

That’s a wrap for day one, we’ll be back tomorrow with a live blog about the second day of the COP22 climate summit!

Looking for more to read? You can download a PDF copy of the Daily Planet’s special COP22 edition that is being handed out in Marrakesh.

 

 
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