12 November 2012: The Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) has released a scenario note for the second part of the 17th session of the AWG-KP that will resume in Doha, Qatar, on 27 November 2012 (FCCC/KP/AWG/2012/4).

The AWG-KP Chair’s note stresses that some key issues that were not resolved at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) have to be agreed in order to enable adoption of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol in Doha. The note includes the Chair’s view on unresolved issues under the AWG-KP, including on: the length of the second commitment period; legal continuity from 1 January 2013; operational continuity; carry-over of surplus of assigned amount units (AAUs); and use of text proposals annexed to Decision 1/CMP.17.

On the organization of work in Doha, the Chair proposes to continue meetings of a Contact Group to take stock of progress, maintain an overview of progress on political and policy issue, and bring together elements for the overall AWG-KP package. The informal spin-off group to discuss the quantified emission limitation or reduction objectives (QELROs) and proposed amendments to the Kyoto Protocol is expected to continue, and it is suggested that it focus on streamlining options for final policy choices regarding the amendments to the Kyoto Protocol. The Vice-Chair consultations on the legal and procedural issues to ensure a smooth transition to the second commitment period also are expected to continue, with the AWG-KP Chair suggesting that they aim at arriving at a text of the draft decision to which the proposed amendments would be annexed.

The Chair also emphasizes that, given the required time for revision of amendments before their adoption, including their legal and linguistic review, preliminary arrangements have been made for an AWG-KP plenary to finalize the text of amendments on 5 December. [Publication: Scenario Note on the Second Part of the Seventeenth Session]