Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
12/19/2014
After two weeks of negotiations in Lima, Peru, delegates to the 20th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 20) left early this week with a slightly better idea of what would be expected leading up to and at the 2015 gathering in Paris, at which time members are tasked with developing a universal agreement on climate. COP 20 answered various clarifying and administrative questions concerning what would be required of countries in developing their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) but beyond that, the results of the negations were modest, according to a Center for Climate and Energy Solutions summary of the event. “In a preview of a tough year ahead, governments meeting at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, went 30 hours over deadline to hammer out a modest set of procedural steps, and made no real progress on the larger issues looming as they work toward a new global climate agreement next year in Paris,” the C2ES summary says.
Negotiations focused on, among other issues, when and how parties are to submit their INDCs as well as what those INDCs should include, according to a document from the conference. The document states that “the information to be provided by Parties communicating their intended nationally determined contributions, in order to facilitate clarity, transparency and understanding, may include, as appropriate, inter alia, quantifiable information on the reference point (including, as appropriate, a base year), time frames and/or periods for implementation, scope and coverage, planning processes, assumptions and methodological approaches including those for estimating and accounting for anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and, as appropriate, removals, and how the Party considers that its intended nationally determined contribution is fair and ambitious, in light of its national circumstances, and how it contributes towards achieving the objective of the Convention.”
Further, INDCs are meant to be more stringent than current actions being taken by parties. “Each Party’s intended nationally determined contribution towards achieving the objective of the Convention as set out … will represent a progression beyond the current undertaking of that Party,” the document says
Any New Agreement Must Apply to All Parties
The document makes it clear that any protocol, legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force under the convention will be applicable to all parties, not just developed nations. However INDCs will vary amongst parties and will address a wide variety of concerns. “The protocol, another legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties shall address in a balanced manner, inter alia, mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, and capacity-building, and transparency of action and support,” the document says, also stating that the UNFCCC “underscores its commitment to reaching an ambitious agreement in 2015 that reflects the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances.”
Timeline Begins to Form
The document also provides a rough timeline leading up the Paris conference to be held Nov. 30 to Dec. 11, 2015. The agreement calls on the Ad Hoc Working Group, the subsidiary body tasked with developing the future protocol, “to intensify its work, with a view to making available a negotiating text … before May 2015.” Further, the document invites “all Parties to communicate their intended nationally determined contributions well in advance of the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (by the first quarter of 2015 by those Parties ready to do so) in a manner that facilitates the clarity, transparency and understanding of the intended nationally determined contributions.” Those INDCs received by Oct. 1, 2015 will be included in a synthesis report on the potential effects of the INDCs which is to be prepared by Nov. 1, 2015.
