Without Bonn, there is no Paris
This year’s UN Climate Change Conference kicked off in Bonn on
November 6 and will go on till November 17, 2017 with strong, unified
calls to hold to the path of the Paris Climate Change Agreement1. The
island nation Fiji, is presiding over the COP (Conference of Parties) as
the Presidency; the UNFCCC Secretariat will be hosting COP23 at its
headquarters in Bonn, with the support of the German Government and the
City of Bonn.
It is very likely that 2017 will emerge as one of the three hottest
years on record, with many high-impact events including catastrophic
hurricanes and floods, debilitating heat waves and drought. Long-term
indicators of climate change such as increasing carbon dioxide
concentrations, sea level rise and ocean acidification continue to be a
cause for concern. Arctic sea ice coverage remains below average and
previously stable Antarctic sea ice extent was at or near a record low2.
All the science, and the mauling that extreme weather has inflicted
this year from floods in India and Nigeria to hurricanes in the Caribbean and wildfires in the US and Europe, indicate that global emissions need to start falling urgently – in the next few years.
The Paris Agreement set out principles, but not the details, but the
Bonn meeting will be vital in building the rules that will enable the
Paris deal to work3.
Among the many technical issues, parties will discuss further
guidance in relation to mitigation, including on the features of
Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs). This includes coming up with
international standards for how to measure carbon emissions, to make
sure that one nation's efforts can be compared to another's. A second
debate centers around how countries take stock of what has been achieved
and set new, more ambitious goals for curbing carbon emissions after
20204. Discussion will also take place in relation to
- adaptation communications
- modalities, procedures, and guidelines for the enhanced transparency framework
- matters related to global stock taking
- modalities and procedures for the committee to facilitate implementation and enhance compliance;
- matters related to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (cooperative approaches);
- modalities and procedures for the operation and use of a public registry, or registries;
- and other matters related to the implementation of the Paris Agreement5.
However, the main aim of COP 23 at Bonn is, two years after the COP 21 Paris Agreement was signed, how signatories can implement their commitments6.
This Paris Agreement’s implementation “rule book” is scheduled to be
finalized in Poland next year. Therefore, this will be an important COP
to watch for signs of the work for next year, and how countries can
stick to their timeline to deliver an effective road map to achieve the
goals of the Paris Agreement7. In other words “Without Bonn, there is no Paris”
- A Saleem Khan, Senior Scientist, Climate Change, MSSRF
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COP 23 OUTCOMES:
15 NOV. 2017
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| Friday, 10 November 2017 | ||||
| Agriculture |  Programme (433 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Energy | Programme (310 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Water | Programme (511 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Saturday, 11 November 2017 | ||||
| Human Settlements | Programme (543 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Oceans and Coastal Zones | Programme (486 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Transport | Programme (400 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Sunday, 12 November 2017 | ||||
| Forest | Programme (426 kB) | Press Briefing | Outcome | |
| Industry | Programme (398 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Monday, 13 November 2017 | ||||
| High-level opening of Global Climate Action | Programme (550 kB) | Video | ||
| Finance | Programme (450 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| SDG 11 and Climate Action | Programme (848 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Tuesday, 14 November 2017 | ||||
| Innovation | Programme (250 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Resilience | Programme (333 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| SDG 2 and Climate Action | Programme (372 kB) | Press Briefing | Video | Outcome |
| Closing of Global Climate Action - Bonn Zone | Programme (624 kB) | Video | ||
| Wednesday, 15 November 2017 | |||
| High-level closing of Global Climate Action - Bula Zone | Programme (474 kB) | Press Briefing | Video |
Webcasts:
Coming soon:
- Yearbook
Fig. By the High-Level Champions
H.E. Ms. Hakima El Haite
and H.E. Mr. Inia Seruiratu
****************
COP 23 :
YEARBOOK
The First Yearbook of the Marrakesh Partnership informs Parties about what has been achieved during the year, and spotlights how pre-2020 ambition can be accelerated.
It has been developed in consultation and co-operation with coalitions and initiatives who are at the forefront of action, innovation and solutions.
Yearbook coming soon!
Summary for Policymakers 2017 (991 kB)
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UNFCCC:
The UNFCCC entered into force on 21 March 1994. Today, it has near-universal membership. The 197 countries that have ratified the Convention are called Parties to the Convention.
The UNFCCC is a “Rio Convention”, one of three adopted at the “Rio Earth Summit” in 1992. Its sister Rio Conventions are the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification. The three are intrinsically linked. It is in this context that the Joint Liaison Group was set up to boost cooperation among the three Conventions, with the ultimate aim of developing synergies in their activities on issues of mutual concern. It now also incorporates the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The BrundtLand Commission Report, 1987
First Assessment Report (FAR), 1988 :
In 1988, the UN began to formulate a
strategy to assess, understand and deal
with the climate change and environment imbalances
we had caused. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) created under the UN
Environment Program
1989 : The
Montreal Protocol on Substances that
Deplete the Ozone Layer (attached to
the Vienna Convention for the Protection
of the Ozone Layer) was adopted and signed by over 200 countries, making it one of the most
successful examples of global
environmental co-operation.
1992 RIO SUMMIT:
The UN Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) held in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, was also known as the Rio
Summit or the Earth Summit.
Kyoto Protocol 1997
(Ratified In 2005):
The treaty that came out of the Rio
Summit was legally non- binding and did not set standards or limits of
greenhouse gas emissions for individual
countries; it promoted sustainability, but
did not enforce it. Instead it set up specific protocols within
which these limits could be
negotiated. One of these was the
Kyoto Protocol.
This Protocol is an agreement that
deals with greenhouse gas emissions and
how they can be reduced. It manifests and executes a commitment by countries to
stabilise emissions,
setting limits for specific
developed countries, based on the principles
of the Rio Convention. Importantly, the protocol mainly applies to developed nations on the
principle of common but differentiated
responsibility, as historically it is these nations that have contributed to depletion of the
ozone layer and the resultant global
warming. It puts in place verification and compliance systems to achieve results.
At the recent Doha Climate Talks
(2012), it was agreed that the Kyoto
Protocol will be binding for 7 more years. It was also agreed that after that point, the
differentiation between
developed and developing nations
will be removed and reductions will be
required commensurate to emissions from all nations.
MDGS 2000
The UN made a list of 8 goals it
wished to achieve by 2015 through the
efforts of its 193 member states and other international organisations after it
formulated and adopted the
United Nations Millennium
Declaration.
In 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as a framework for
international cooperation to combat climate change by limiting average global
temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and coping with impacts
that were, by then, inevitable.
By 1995, countries launched negotiations to strengthen the global response to climate change, and, two years later, adopted the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed country Parties to emission reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. The second commitment period began on 1 January 2013 and will end in 2020.
By 1995, countries launched negotiations to strengthen the global response to climate change, and, two years later, adopted the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed country Parties to emission reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. The second commitment period began on 1 January 2013 and will end in 2020.
There are now 197 Parties to the Convention and 192 Parties
to the Kyoto Protocol.
The 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted in Paris on 12 December
2015, marks the latest step in the evolution of the UN climate change regime
and builds on the work undertaken under the Convention. The Paris Agreement
charts a new course in the global effort to combat climate change.
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Climate change in context :
|
This time line detailing the international response to
climate change provides a contextual entry point to the Essential Background.
You can also use the links on the left-hand column under Essential Background
to navigate this section.
2015 - Intensive negotiations took place under the Ad Hoc Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) throughout 2012-2015 and culminated in the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the COP on 12 December 2015. More on the Paris Agreement. 2014 - At COP 20 in Lima in 2014, Parties adopted the ‘Lima Call for Action’, which elaborated key elements of the forthcoming agreement in Paris. More on the Lima Call for Action. 2013 - Key decisions adopted at COP 19/CMP 9 include decisions on further advancing the Durban Platform, the Green Climate Fund and Long-Term Finance, the Warsaw Framework for REDD Plus and the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage. Under the Durban Platform, Parties agreed to submit “intended nationally determined contributions”, known as INDCs, well before the Paris conference. More on the Warsaw Outcomes.
2012 - The Doha Amendment to the
Kyoto Protocol is adopted by the CMP at CMP 8. More on the Doha Amendment.
Several decisions taken opening a gateway to greater ambition and
action on all levels. More on the Doha Climate Gateway.
2011 — The Durban Platform for
Enhanced Action drafted and accepted by the COP, at COP17. More on the Durban outcomes.
2010 — Cancun Agreements drafted
and largely accepted by the COP, at COP 16. More on the Cancun Agreements.
2009 — Copenhagen Accord drafted at COP 15 in Copenhagen. This was taken note of by the COP. Countries later submitted emissions reductions pledges or mitigation action pledges, all non-binding.
2007 — IPCC's Fourth Assessment
Report released. Climate science entered into popular consciousness. At COP
13, Parties agreed on the Bali Road Map, which charted the way towards a
post-2012 outcome in two work streams: the AWG-KP, and another under the
Convention, known as the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action Under
the Convention. More about the Bali Road Map.
2005 — Entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. The first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (MOP 1) takes place in Montreal. In accordance with Kyoto Protocol requirements, Parties launched negotiations on the next phase of the KP under the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP). What was to become the Nairobi Work Programme on Adaptation (it would receive its name in 2006, one year later) is accepted and agreed on. More about the Nairobi Work Programme.
2001 — Release of IPCC's Third Assessment
Report. Bonn Agreements adopted, based on the Buenos Aires Plan of Action of
1998. Marrakesh Accords adopted at COP 7, detailing
rules for implementation of Kyoto Protocol, setting up new funding and
planning instruments for adaptation, and establishing a technology transfer
framework.
1997 — Kyoto Protocol formally
adopted in December at COP 3. More about the Kyoto Protocol.
1996 — The UNFCCC Secretariat is set up to support action under the Convention. More on the Secretariat. 1995 — The first Conference of the Parties (COP 1) takes place in Berlin.
1994 — UNFCCC enters into force. An introduction to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change.
1992 — The INC adopts UNFCCC text.
At the Earth Summit in Rio, the UNFCCC is opened for signature along with its
sister Rio Conventions, UNCBD and UNCCD. More about the two other Rio
Conventions: UNCBD and UNCCD.
1991 — First meeting of the
Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) takes place.
1990 — IPCC's first assessment
report released. IPCC and second World Climate Conference call for a global
treaty on climate change. United Nations General Assembly negotiations on a
framework convention begin.
1988 — The Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change is set up. More about the science of climate
change.
1979 — The first World Climate
Conference (WCC) takes place.
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http://www.wipro.com/documents/history_of_sustainability.pdf
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