11 November 2013: The 2013 Warsaw Climate Change Conference opened in Warsaw, Poland, and will continue until 22 November. The Conference includes the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 19) to the UNFCCC and the 9th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 9).

Three subsidiary bodies will also convene: the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP).

The conference will consider various agenda items related to finance, mitigation, adaptation and technology. The COP will also hear a report from the ADP concerning progress made during the second year of its mandate to develop “a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties” by 2015 to enter into force no later than 2020.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said the meeting is a pivotal moment to advance international climate action and showcase a growing momentum to address climate change at all levels of society. She called on governments to progress in: further clarifying the provision of finance to developing countries; creating a mechanism to allow the poor and vulnerable to adapt to climate change; agreeing on the design of the new, universal climate change agreement; and identifying immediate ways to reverse the trend of rising emissions.

According to the UNFCCC Secretariat, the Warsaw meeting also needs to make fully operational the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Technology Mechanism and the Adaptation Committee. [IISD RS Coverage] [UNFCCC Press Release][UNFCCC Warsaw Climate Change Conference webpage]