30 August 2012: The informal additional sessions of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) opened on 30 August 2012. The aim of the sessions is to enable the bodies to continue work from the Climate Change Talks held in May 2012, in Bonn, Germany, and to advance preparations for the resumed sessions of the ad hoc working groups to be convened in Doha, Qatar, at the end of the year.

The meetings are taking place at the UN Conference Centre of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok, Thailand, and will continue until 5 September 2012. The AWG-KP session will be used towards resolving outstanding issues to ensure the successful completion of the group’s work in Doha, Qatar, in December 2012 by recommending an amendment to the Conference of the Parties (COP) serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) for adoption. This would allow a second commitment period under the Protocol to start immediately from 1 January 2013.

The AWG-LCA will continue working on practical solutions to fulfill specific mandates from COP 17 in Durban, South Africa. The focus will be on what substantive outcomes are needed to conclude each element in Doha, how the elements will be reflected in the final outcome of the AWG-LCA and whether additional work might be needed beyond COP 18 and if so, identifying concrete issues and whether those issues require technical work or political consideration. Parties are expected to initiate the textual basis for the Doha outcome of the AWG-LCA. Five workshops based on Decision 2/CP.17 (outcome of the work of the AWG-LCA) will also convene in Bangkok.

Under the ADP, parties are expected to discuss their vision and aspirations for the ADP, the results of its work and how these results can be achieved. Parties will also discuss how to enhance ambition and the opportunities to bridge the gap, the role of means of implementation and how to strengthen international cooperative initiatives, as well as the elements that could frame the ADP’s work. Parties will also discuss how they envisage giving effect to the Convention principles. [IISD RS Coverage] [UNFCCC Press Release]