The tone of the 2016 UN Climate Change Conference in Mararakech, Morocco, shifted through the two-week gathering, as global leaders carried on as usual, if not more determined, in a changing global political landscape. Robert C. Orr, special advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Climate Change, provides an insider’s dispatch as an attendee.
In the wake of the electoral earthquake in the United States, many media outlets focused feverishly on whether President-elect Donald Trump could or would try to “cancel” the Paris Agreement on climate change as he stated on the campaign trail. This storyline, however, is not nearly as interesting as the actual story that has emerged in Marrakech Morocco where over 190 governments have been meeting to advance implementation of the new global agreement that just came into legal force on November 4.
China and Saudi Arabia, not traditionally known as climate change enthusiasts over the years, declared at top levels that combatting climate change is in their national interests and that they plan to continue their climate efforts regardless of what the American government does. Indeed, scores of governments from every corner of the world have echoed this sentiment. But as clear as the speeches have been on this point, the actions have been even clearer.
Governments from every corner of the globe are voting with their feet: 110 countries representing over 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have now ratified the Paris Agreement with additional countries doing so every day. They aren’t waiting to see what happens come January 21. They know that all are vulnerable and that building in climate resilience to their economies, cities and agriculture is manifestly in their interest.
They know that sustainable energy, infrastructure, agriculture and transportation are all fast growing sectors of their economies. In the energy sector alone, as the price of wind and solar energy has plummeted with technological innovation, we have witnessed three consecutive years where the majority of newly installed energy capacity in the world has been in renewables, not in oil or gas, much less coal. When the market speaks this clearly, successful politicians listen.
Among the many gathering in Marrakech, over 30 heads of state from Africa came together to focus on renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure and climate-smart agriculture. They met with investors, finance institutions and companies attracted to the continent with many of the world’s fastest growing economies.
Likewise, mayors and governors from around the world converged to review their climate commitments, raise their ambitions and attract increased investment in their plans. They are seeing great success: making deals, expanding investments and planning partnerships.
Increasingly, private finance is leading the way to economic transformation. The trends are clear. The green bond market continues to expand rapidly, in volume, by the diversity of public and private issuers and by geographies. Carbon footprinting is becoming commonplace, and the Montreal Carbon Pledge has already secured signatories with over $10 trillion in assets. In 2014 the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition set out to decarbonize $100 billion in assets under management and has dramatically outperformed expectations, having succeeded in decarbonizing over $610 billion of assets. Increasingly, corporate boardrooms are treating climate-related risk as material. This will receive an additional impetus in December when the Financial Stability Board Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures releases its report.
So as journalists and pundits speculate about the future of American climate policy, the real economy marches on. The question on the minds of the more than 30,000 participants at the beginning of the Marrakech Conference of Parties was, “Can the Paris Agreement survive a Trump Administration?”
By the end, the question had clearly become: “Can the United States compete in the 21st century if it tries to buck the scientific, technological, economic and political tide on climate change?”
(Top image: Courtesy Getty Images.)
Robert Orr is Dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and special advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Climate Change.
All views expressed are those of the author.