21 July 2015: The French Government hosted the first of a series of informal ministerial consultations to prepare for the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC, which will take place in November-December 2015. The consultations brought together approximately 40 delegations, including 30 ministers, who discussed: the overall balance of the draft climate change agreement; its level of ambition; and the degree of differentiation that should be retained in order to take into account the situation and levels of development of the different UN member States.

According to the French Government, Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development and COP 21 President, decided to organize a series of informal conferences to support, at the political level, the process of negotiations on the main themes under discussion. They do not aim to replace the formal negotiation sessions, but to support them at the political level.

The first informal ministerial consultations were held from 20-21 July 2015, in Paris, France, and were hosted by Fabius. They focused on the following two questions: “What’s at stake at the first international ministerial meeting on the climate negotiations?” and “Can we expect to see a “pre-agreement” on the goal of limiting global warming to less than 2°?”

In his opening speech, Fabius explained that Manuel Pulgar Vidal, Minister of Environment of Peru and COP 20 President, was unable to attend the consultations as planned. He stated that all participants “know the need to act,” and the urgency of the need to act. Stressing the linkages between the “fight for development” and the protection of the planet, Fabius emphasized that “we cannot win the development fight and that against poverty if we do not win the fight against climate change, and vice-versa.”

He pointed to the recent success in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3). He stated that: the second stop will be the UN summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda in New York, US, in September 2015; and the third and last stop in 2015 will be the Paris Climate Conference, which is expected to adopt a universal agreement, with States’ commitments, as well as the engagement of all relevant stakeholders.

Noting the small number of negotiating days remaining before COP 21, he underlined that agreement will not be reached through a last minute scramble. Fabius added that preparing and building success in Paris “has to start now.” Noting that “technical” negotiators still “bang into” a series of major political decisions, he stressed the need for ministers to seek areas of compromise as soon as possible to enable negotiatiors to make progress.

During the two-day consultations, participants engaged in a plenary session on the general balance of the draft agreement, and an exchange of views in two co-facilitated groups on the operationalization of differentiation and on the level of ambition of the agreement. On the last day, participants convened in plenary to discuss the way forward.

Fabius also announced upcoming events and milestones on the road to Paris: a second informal consultation of negotiators on 6 September, and of ministers on 7 September, in Paris, which will focus on finance; the holding by the COP 20 and COP 21 Presidents of an informal meeting of finance ministers, in the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual fall meetings; the release by the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) of a new synthesized version of the draft agreement, expected in early October; and a “pre-COP” meeting in early November to discuss remaining political issues. [Informal Ministerial Consultations Webpage] [Laurent Fabius’ Speech]