6 May 2016: Parties to the UNFCCC will meet from 16-26 May, in Bonn, Germany, to discuss a number of matters that will eventually be forwarded to the Conference of the Parties (COP) serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA), once the Agreement has entered into force. A reflections note released by the French COP Presidency and the incoming Moroccan COP Presidency gives a preview of how negotiations will be conducted in Bonn, as well as how France and Morocco plan to promote successful implementation of the Agreement over the coming years.

Meeting in Bonn for the first time since the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015, Parties will convene for the first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA 1), which is responsible for preparing for the entry into force of the Agreement. With strong momentum and 177 signatories to the Agreement, some have projected that the Agreement could garner enough ratifications (55) covering at least 55% of global emissions to enter into force before 2020, the date when it is expected to do so. An early entrance into force could mean that the “rule-making” for implementation has not been completed. Another consideration relates to how, in this instance, Parties that have not yet joined the Agreement would participate in the rule-making.

In their note, COP 21 President Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, and incoming COP 22 President Hakima El Haite, Moroccan Minister of Environment, clarify that they “consider that no Party should be disadvantaged or excluded from the collective development of the rulebook of the Paris Agreement simply because it is still in the process of joining the Agreement.” They add that early entry into force does not alter existing commitments and pledges by Parties or the commitments in the decision accompanying the Paris Agreement (Decision 1/CP.21) or the Agreement itself.

They call for the approach in Bonn to be “balanced and coherent,” noting that “No issue is more important than another.” The APA will not be the only body taking up these issues, as the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) will also be meeting and have been tasked with several items required for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The Presidents promise to work closely with the leaders of these bodies and other UNFCCC entities and invite Parties to swiftly nominate the Bureau of the APA.

In addition, the Presidents announce in the note that they will hold two special stocktaking events, where the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Chairs of the APA, SBSTA and SBI will present how they are implementing the tasks assigned to them by Decision 1/CP.21, which was adopted in Paris in December 2015. The UNFCCC Secretariat and the Presidencies will also develop a tool to track progress on the various agenda items, according to the note.

Two annexes to the reflections note describe the various tasks arising from the Paris Agreement and the bodies assigned to complete them, as well as the distribution of these tasks across the provisional agendas for APA 1, SBSTA 44 and SBI 44. The Presidents note that the Chairs of these bodies will work to make sure various agenda items are treated rationally, such as grouping them with ongoing work in related areas.

The Paris Agreement has thus far been ratified by 16 Parties. When Parties join the Agreement, they submit their first nationally determined contribution (NDC), which may be the same as, or an updated version of, their intended NDC (INDC). These NDCs are now being recorded in a newly-launched interim NDC registry, as requested by Decision 1/CP.21. [COP 21 and COP 22 Presidents’ Reflections Note] [IISD RS Story on May Session Provisional Agendas] [UNFCCC Press Release] [Interim NDC Public Registry]