A total of 184 countries (96% of the total) have ratified the Agreement and presented specific emission reduction targets; however, together they fail to meet the joint goal set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Therefore, it is necessary to review and step up the national commitments, which requires the ongoing Talanoa Dialogue process to be completed.

Stepping up the goals also means standardising procedures in order to be able to measure commitments, assess achievements and guide countries that were not bound by the previous benchmarks under the Kyoto Protocol.

In addition to specifying the objectives of the Paris Agreement, ACCIONA hopes that COP24 will articulate guidelines for their development and will define rules for their implementation — the 'Paris Rulebook', which must be completed at the Katowice meeting.

Apart from political ambition and commitment, ACCIONA considers it vital that non-governmental agencies become implicated in decarbonising the economy. Companies, NGOs and other civil society players must take on an active role in combating climate change.

ACCIONA is a member of the world's main private-sector forums to drive effective measures against climate change. When the Paris Agreement was adopted, ACCIONA made the commitment to become a carbon-neutral company — it achieved this goal in 2016. In line with the decarbonisation roadmap for the economy that was set out in the Paris Agreement, the company established science-based emission reduction goals vetted by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI), specifically a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from the 2017 baseline.

Through the Alliance of CEO Climate Leadersopens in a new tab, under the auspices of the World Economic Forum, ACCIONA signed three leading private-sector petitions for COP24opens in a new tab: implementation of effective carbon pricing mechanisms worldwide; allocation of funding and investment to low carbon activities; and development of political tools to promote citizen education and demand for low carbon solutions.

The companies in the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, which have cut their CO2 emissions by 9% since 2015, are anchoring their climate goals to scientific criteria and are extending them to their supply chain, having defined rules for transparency with regard to climate risks in their reports.

ACCIONA also contributed to drafting Ambition Loopopens in a new tab a joint report by the Global Compact, We Mean Business and the World Resources Institute whose goal is to provide inspiration for the design of decarbonisation measures. The report presents examples of achievements in such industries as power and transportation, as well as in combating deforestation.