COP23 may well prove a watershed moment in testing
national commitments to emissions reduction if negotiations begin
to stall and unity fragments.
The main item on the agenda for the next Conference of the
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), or COP23, which is being held
between 6-17 November 2017, is the drafting of the rulebook for the
implementation of the Paris Agreement. This work commenced soon
after COP21 in Paris and must be completed before COP24 in Poland
next year; the Paris Agreement is meant to come into force in
2020.
The celebrations which greeted the entry into and subsequent
early ratification of the Paris Agreement have in some respects
been dampened by the election of Donald Trump as US President, and
his announcement earlier this year of the USA's intention to
withdraw from the Paris Agreement. It remains to be seen what
impact this will have on the ongoing negotiations to implement the
agreement by
