Countries attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2016 (COP22) in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Tuesday called for the “highest political commitment” to tackle global warning. “Our task is to build...momentum, moving forward purposefully to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster adaptation efforts,” read the draft Marrakesh Action Proclamation for Climate and Sustainable Development.

Nearly 80 heads of states or representative ministers attended the high-level meet of the latest round of UN climate change talks, which began on November 7 and will continue till November 18. Amid fears that the United States will pull out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement following Donald Trump’s presidential victory, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the president-elect will rethink plans to quit the global accord, which came into force on November 4.

“I hope he will really hear and understand the severity and urgency of addressing climate change...I hope he understands this, listens and evaluates his campaign remarks,” Ban said, adding that he hoped Trump would change his opinion that man-made climate change was a hoax.

Nearly 200 nations are participating in the annual meet in Morocco to agree on methods to implement the 2015 Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. “What was once unthinkable has become unstoppable,” the UN secretary-general said, referring to the record time in which more than 100 countries had ratified the Paris agreement for it to come into effect.

Moreover, the US delegation at the Marrakesh summit was handed a petition signed by more than five lakh people to have fossil fuel lobbyists excluded from the UN climate change negotiations. The petition was led by the Corporate Accountability International, which called for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to come up with a policy to filter non-state participants of meetings to avoid conflicts of interests, The Guardian reported.