Climate negotiations from 2 to 13 June 2008 in Bonn
Following the end of the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Bonn will remain in the spotlight of global environmental policy for the next two weeks, with the second round of negotiations on the Bali Roadmap starting in the city today. The meeting will prepare for the 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which is to decide on a comprehensive climate protection agreement for the post-2012 period. The Bonn meeting will be attended by a total of around 1500 representatives from the Convention Parties, observers from NGOs and the media.
The Bali Roadmap, agreed by the international community in December 2007, lays down a timetable for comprehensive negotiations on a climate regime post-2012, when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires. The negotiations are due to be concluded at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. There are two tracks to the negotiations, one under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the other under the Kyoto Protocol. This complex structure is necessary because the US has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol and developing countries want to negotiate on their future contributions to the climate protection regime under the UNFCCC (see below).
The increasingly ominous warnings from scientists leave no doubt: the future climate protection agreement must set a course towards a low carbon economy. Industrialised countries are primarily responsible for the problem and they must assume a leading role, making absolute reductions in their emissions. In its 4th Assessment Report the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calculated that we need global emission reductions of at least 50 percent by 2050 and, as a first step, 25 to 40 percent for industrialised countries by 2020. Moreover, global emissions must be brought onto a reduction path within 10 to 15 years at the latest if we are to meet the EU's target of keeping global warming below 2°C compared to pre-industrial times.
This goal, however, cannot be achieved through measures by industrialised countries alone. Additional activities by newly industrialising countries with rapidly growing economies are also needed. They must significantly reduce their emissions growth. To this end, emissions trading in particular must be substantially expanded. Only by pricing carbon appropriately can we trigger investments in climate-friendly alternatives, in energy efficiency and renewable energies.
Background
The ad hoc working group under the Kyoto Protocol
The Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG KP) negotiates on the future emission reduction commitments of industrialised countries which are party to the Kyoto Protocol. This group was set up in 2006. In Bali it was decided to base further deliberations for industrialised countries on a target corridor of 25-40 percent reduction by 2020 compared to 1990. The session in Bonn will discuss the technical structuring of the means available to industrialised countries for reducing emissions. At the last round of negotiations in April in Bangkok it was agreed that emissions trading, CDM and JI will continue to be used in the next commitment period.
The ad hoc working group under the UNFCCC
In the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) countries negotiate on the emission reduction contributions of non-Kyoto industrialised countries, in particular the US, and on the contributions of developing countries to the future climate protection regime. Further topics on the agenda are adaptation to climate change, mitigation and adaptation technologies and the investments and financing needed for this regime. This working group was set up in Bali and laid down its work programme during its first round of negotiations in Bangkok this year. In Bonn, three workshops dealing with adaptation, technology and financing will further define contributions to the future climate regime.
The sessions of the subsidiary bodies
Parallel to the negotiations, the subsidiary bodies of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and of the Kyoto Protocol - Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) - will meet in Bonn from 4 to 13 June 2008. The subsidiary bodies prepare decisions for the meetings of the Conference of the Parties and/or negotiate on the specific implementation of the decisions. The agenda for the meeting in Bonn includes the further structuring of a work programme on adaptation, technology transfer and methodological aspects such as including carbon storage in CDM.
The next rounds of negotiations
The third session of negotiations at working level will take place in Accra, Ghana in August. The next Climate Change Conference will be held in Poznan, Poland from 1 - 12 December 2008. This meeting will take stock of the results of the first year of negotiations and lay down the content of negotiations for the year 2009.