8 February 2015: The Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) has begun the eighth part of its second session (ADP 2-8) in Geneva, Switzerland, and will continue meeting until 13 February. The conference is the first of several meetings to be held in 2015 under the UNFCCC in preparation for the Paris Climate Change Conference in December 2015. The Paris Conference is mandated to adopt “a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties” that is expected to be implemented in 2020.

The 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UNFCCC in December 2014 requested the ADP to intensify its work, with a view to making available a negotiating text for a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention before May 2015 (Decision 1/CP.20).

In their scenario note (ADP.2015.1.InformalNote), ADP Co-Chairs Ahmed Djoghlaf (Algeria) and Daniel Reifsnyder (US) state that the objective of the Geneva session is to deliver the negotiating text, as no more negotiating sessions are expected prior to May 2015.

On Sunday morning, 8 February, the ADP opening plenary took place. COP 20 President Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Minister of the Environment, Peru, called on Parties to maintain the momentum generated in Lima and to work responsibly, efficiently and in a spirit of compromise. ADP Co-Chair Djoghlaf called on delegates “to keep the promise made to our children in Durban.” ADP Co-Chair Reifsnyder underscored the objective of delivering a negotiating text on Friday and said that the main task of the ADP contact group will be to ensure that the text fully reflects Parties’ positions.

The ADP contact group on item 3 (implementation of all the elements of Decision 1/CP.17) then convened, where delegates made general comments and discussed the objective, as well as issues related to mitigation. [Conference Website] [IISD RS coverage of ADP 2-8]