Antichronological ordering of references in moderncv using apacite

I haven't found an automated way to solve this problem, but to manually order an apacite reference list \APACSortNoop is a possibility. To sort the entries add {{\APACSortNoop{x}} in front of the name of your first authors and replace x with numbers from 1 to n. The references will be sorted in ascending order, as they appear in this example:

@article{article1,
    Author = {{\APACSortNoop{1}}Doe, John and Jane, Doe},
    Title = {Title},
    Year = {2012},
    Journal = {Journal},
    Pages = {1--2},
    Volume = {1}
}

@article{article2,
    Author = {{\APACSortNoop{2}}Doe, John and Bar, Foo},
    Title = {Title},
    Year = {2009},
    Journal = {Journal},
    Pages = {1--2},
    Volume = {1}
}

I have also found a solution to the problem, that the reference lists spans across both columns. This is all pretty dirty though. I'm sure there must be a better way to handle this.

Embedding each reference list in a minipage, manually setting subections and paddings like this will work for the standard description column width on DIN A4 paper:

\usepackage{multibib}
\newcites{articles,conferences}{{},{}}

\section{References}
\vspace{-0.1cm}\subsection{Publications}
\vspace{-0.45cm}\hspace{3.15cm}\begin{minipage}{12.6cm}
    \nocitearticles{article1,article2}
    \bibliographystylearticles{apacite}
    \bibliographyarticles{articles}
\end{minipage}

\vspace{0.2cm}\subsection{Conference contributions}
\vspace{-0.45cm}\hspace{3.15cm}\begin{minipage}{12.6cm}
    \nociteconferences{conference1,conference2}
    \bibliographystyleconferences{apacite}
    \bibliographyconferences{conferences}
\end{minipage}

Just for those of us still coming across this question: moderncv seems to be compatible with biblatex-apa nowadays. This makes it possible to sort bibliographies in descending order (sorting=ydnt) without the hacks proposed by @crash.

Moreover, instead of using multibib for multiple bibliographies (e.g., "Papers", "Books"), I prefer the so-called subdivided bibliographies (§3.11.4 of the biblatex manual). Very straightforward. Here comes my MWE:

\documentclass{moderncv}
\moderncvstyle{classic}
\usepackage[american]{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[style=apa,sortcites=true,sorting=ydnt,backend=biber]{biblatex}
\DeclareLanguageMapping{american}{american-apa}
\bibliography{test}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{test.bib}
  @article{citation01,
    Author = {Doe, John and Roe, Jane},
    Journal = {Fancy Journal},
    Pages = {123--145},
    Title = {Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit},
    Volume = {2},
    Year = {2012}}
  @article{citation02,
    Author = {Doe, John and Roe, Jane},
    Journal = {Fancy Journal},
    Pages = {12--34},
    Title = {Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.},
    Volume = {1},
    Year = {2014}}
  @book{citation03,
    Author = {Doe, John and Roe, Jane},
    Title = {Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.},
    publisher = {Company},
    location = {Somewhere},
    Year = {2013}}
\end{filecontents}

\name{John}{Doe}
\title{CV}
\email{[email protected]}

\begin{document}
\makecvtitle

\section{Education}
\cventry{year--year}{Degree}{Institution}{City}{\textit{Grade}}{Description}

\nocite{*}

\printbibheading[title={Publications}]
\printbibliography[type=article,heading=subbibliography,title={Papers}]
\printbibliography[type=book,heading=subbibliography,title={Books}]

\end{document}