14 May 2012
First UNFCCC Negotiating Session of 2012 Opens in Bonn
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The conference, which is scheduled to conclude on 25 May 2012, comprises the 36th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), the 15th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), the 17th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP), and the first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP).

14 May 2012: The first official negotiating session since the Durban Climate Change Conference under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol opened on 14 May 2012, in Bonn, Germany.

The conference, which is scheduled to conclude on 25 May 2012, comprises the 36th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), the 15th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), the 17th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP), and the first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP).

The ADP will meet from 17 to 24 May. Drawing, inter alia, on party submissions (FCCC/ADP/2012/MISC.3), the new body is expected to start planning its work, including on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, transparency of action and support, and capacity building. The ADP is also expected to consider a workplan on enhancing mitigation ambition and elect its Chair, Vice-Chair and Rapporteur.

Meeting from 15-24 May, the AWG-LCA is expected to focus on preparation of an agreed comprehensive and balanced outcome for adoption at the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18). It will also organize five in-session workshops on: equitable access to sustainable development; clarification of developed country emission reduction targets; further understanding the diversity of developing countries’ nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs); various approaches; and a new market-based mechanism.

Meeting from 15-24 May, the AWG-KP is expected to focus on Annex I parties’ further commitments, including quantified emission limitation or reduction objectives (QELROs), carry-over of assigned amount units (AAUs) and proposed amendments to the Protocol and its annexes.

The SBI and SBSTA will both meet from 14 to 25 May. The SBI provisional agenda (FCCC/SBI/2012/1) includes items, inter alia, on: national communications; NAMAs; finance; national adaptation plan; loss and damage; response measures; technology; appeals against the decisions of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); arrangements for intergovernmental meetings; and administrative, financial and institutional matters.

The SBSTA provisional agenda (FCCC/SBSTA/2012/1) contains items, inter alia, on: the Nairobi Work Programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation; technology; research and systematic observation; response measures; agriculture; various methodological issues; as well as scientific, technical and socioeconomic aspects of mitigation. [IISD RS Coverage] [UNFCCC Press Release]