ACPC in collaboration with Addis Ababa University will convene the second round of the African Climate Talks (ACT) at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 22-23rd March 2018. The event will be a follow-up to the inaugural ACT event which took place in September 2015 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The world’s governments reached the Paris Accord in 2015 at COP 21. The agreement commits to specific targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement has been hailed as a breakthrough moment in the trajectory of the UNFCCC framework, capping emissions not more than 2 degrees since the 19th century onset of the industrial revolution. While 2 degrees warming has been considered the upper limit of ‘safe’ warming, the Paris Accord further seeks, if possible, to aim for even lower warming target of 1.5 degrees. The 20C target is itself a political limit, with scientific debates still raging over its implications for the various regions (e.g. IPCC Special report. The main mechanism by which nations commit towards achieving the objectives of the Accord are the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)).