UNFCCC: Governments Give ‘Green Light’ for Draft Agreement for Negotiation in October in Advance of Paris

The latest round of UN climate change negotiations ended on 3 September on track to produce the first comprehensive draft of the new, universal climate change agreement that governments are committed to reach in Paris, in December.

The draft, to be drawn up by Ahmed Djoghlaf of Algeria and Daniel Reifsnyder of the United States will present clear options and ways forward on all elements of the agreement and the decisions that will operationalize it from 2020.

“At this session, countries have crystalized their positions and have requested the Co-Chairs to produce a concise basis for negotiations with clear options for the next negotiating session in October. This means that we will arrive in Paris on time without too much turbulence– not before, not later,” said Mr Djoghlaf, Co-Chair of the ADP, the negotiating body tasked with reaching the agreement that must put the world on a path to stay beneath a 2 degree Celsius temperature rise. “What Parties are looking for now is a better basis from which to negotiate. This week, we achieved an enormous amount of clarity as to where we are going which makes this possible and allows us to speed up,” said Co-Chair Daniel Reifsnyder.

Mr Djoghlaf said they will deliver the basis for the negotiations of the Paris climate package the first week of October, well in advance of the next ADP meeting in Bonn, Germany from 19-23 October. Mr Reifsnyder said that this meant that all Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be able to negotiate the Paris package in a single drafting committee. “In October, countries will continue their important work, basing their negotiations on a clear, consistent, comprehensive, and coherent draft of the agreement and its accompanying decisions. They will get it in shape and ready for successful completion in Paris,” he added.

The document will retain sets of options reflecting the different views and positions where governments still need to agree common landing zones. Laurence Tubiana, Special Climate Envoy for the Government of France said: “At this session, countries have clarified all the different pieces of the puzzle. Now, all pieces of the puzzle will be assembled and this will enable the negotiations to pick up pace.”

Assembling the puzzle will provide countries with the overview of options that they need for the final steps towards the new agreement. “I am very encouraged,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. “This session has yet again proven that all countries are moving in the direction of progress and all agree that Paris is the final destination for the new universal agreement.”

The October meeting is the final scheduled session of the ADP (Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) before the December conference.

About the UNFCCC

With 196 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

Read the release on the UNFCCC website

Source: UNFCCC press release from 04.09.2015

The latest round of UN climate change negotiations ended on 3 September on track to produce the first comprehensive draft of the new, universal climate change agreement that governments are committed to reach in Paris, in December.

The draft, to be drawn up by Ahmed Djoghlaf of Algeria and Daniel Reifsnyder of the United States will present clear options and ways forward on all elements of the agreement and the decisions that will operationalize it from 2020.

“At this session, countries have crystalized their positions and have requested the Co-Chairs to produce a concise basis for negotiations with clear options for the next negotiating session in October. This means that we will arrive in Paris on time without too much turbulence– not before, not later,” said Mr Djoghlaf, Co-Chair of the ADP, the negotiating body tasked with reaching the agreement that must put the world on a path to stay beneath a 2 degree Celsius temperature rise. “What Parties are looking for now is a better basis from which to negotiate. This week, we achieved an enormous amount of clarity as to where we are going which makes this possible and allows us to speed up,” said Co-Chair Daniel Reifsnyder.

Mr Djoghlaf said they will deliver the basis for the negotiations of the Paris climate package the first week of October, well in advance of the next ADP meeting in Bonn, Germany from 19-23 October. Mr Reifsnyder said that this meant that all Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be able to negotiate the Paris package in a single drafting committee. “In October, countries will continue their important work, basing their negotiations on a clear, consistent, comprehensive, and coherent draft of the agreement and its accompanying decisions. They will get it in shape and ready for successful completion in Paris,” he added.

The document will retain sets of options reflecting the different views and positions where governments still need to agree common landing zones. Laurence Tubiana, Special Climate Envoy for the Government of France said: “At this session, countries have clarified all the different pieces of the puzzle. Now, all pieces of the puzzle will be assembled and this will enable the negotiations to pick up pace.”

Assembling the puzzle will provide countries with the overview of options that they need for the final steps towards the new agreement. “I am very encouraged,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. “This session has yet again proven that all countries are moving in the direction of progress and all agree that Paris is the final destination for the new universal agreement.”

The October meeting is the final scheduled session of the ADP (Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) before the December conference.

About the UNFCCC

With 196 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

Read the release on the UNFCCC website

Source: UNFCCC press release from 04.09.2015