Within the framework of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (CoP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will take place from 7 to 18 November 2016 in Marrakech, ENERGIES 2050, in partnership with the Institut de la Francophonie Sustainable Development (IFDD), a subsidiary organ of the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF), is pleased to inform you of the publication of the report “International Climate Negotiations: A Guide for Citizens”.

This Guide is intended as a new stone for the construction of the collective edifice of the knowledge of each one as an essential preamble to the action. Understanding, deciding and acting is more important than ever before, so that everyone can take ownership of the essential changes that must be made in our societies to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

The literature on climate change, its causes, consequences and possible solutions is abundant. However, there are few documents available to the citizen to invite him to understand the complexity of the international negotiations process and the Conferences of the Parties organized under the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In fact, the citizen can easily feel totally overwhelmed, even angry, impotent, suspicious or even defeated by debates of experts in which he does not recognize himself or in situations that are sometimes presented to him as fatalities.

While these conferences are of paramount importance, with major decisions at the state level but also with significant impacts at the local level and on the daily life of each one of us, they are still opaque and little understood for a large part citizens.

It is to answer these questions and to put the individual at the heart of the debate that the ENERGIES 2050 Association has chosen to design this Guide for Citizens. It is a question of decoding the process of the international negotiations on Climate, of taking stock of the progress and successes already implemented by the international community, but also of understanding the future prospects and, in particular, COP22. The objective is to inform and sensitize citizens on issues related to international climate negotiations.

For ENERGIES 2050 and the IFDD, this Guide for Citizens is a contribution to the collective construction of the Agenda for Action, for which many actors are already mobilized.

For ENERGIES 2050 this Guide is also part of the broader scope of its interventions on issues of climate change, sustainable development and solidarity, be they negotiations themselves, The development of national strategies, concrete and duplicable projects, climate tools and capacity building actions in the 50 countries where ENERGIES 2050 and its partners are involved.

This Guide for Citizens is the update of the 2015 edition which was carried out before the 21st Conference of the Parties of Paris.

This guide “International Climate Negotiations: A Guide for Citizens” is part of the Guides for Action Collection launched in Marrakech at the opening of the 22nd Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (CoP22 ).