4 March 2014: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released the submissions of Switzerland, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the EU to the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), ahead of the fourth part of its second session, which will take place from 10-14 March 2014, in Bonn, Germany.

Switzerland, Ukraine and the EU indicate that the 2015 agreement must be applicable to all parties.

The submission from Switzerland contains sections on the preamble to the 2015 agreement, mitigation, adaptation and support. On mitigation, Switzerland argues that the 2015 agreement should include: a commitment by all parties to reduce or limit their greenhousegas (GHG) emissions in a quantifiable and unconditional manner; an encouragement to parties to adopt economy wide emission reduction commitments; an acknowledgment of the importance to cover all relevant sectors and gases; provisions for all parties to present all relevant information on factual information and assumptions underlying their commitments; provisions for common approaches to be used by all parties in accounting of GHG emissions towards their commitments; provisions for common regular reporting and verification, and for a review of the implementation of commitments; provisions for regular review of the adequacy of global mitigation ambition; and provisions for subsequent climate commitments.

On adaptation, Switzerland stresses that the 2015 agreement is to include: a commitment of all parties to undertake appropriate efforts in preparing for integrated adaptation action to the adverse effects of climate change; acknowledgment of the importance of integrated planning of adaptation actions; a commitment of all parties to cooperate in view to enhance resilience and adaptive capacity, in particular of the most vulnerable; and provisions for all parties to regularly report, respecting the differentiated capabilities of parties, on their efforts in preparing for adaptation action.

On support, Switzerland argues that the 2015 agreement should contain provisions on: a commitment of all to provide, according to their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDRRC), resources for climate action to implement the agreement; a commitment of all parties in a position to do so to cooperate and support countries in need, particularly the most vulnerable; an acknowledgment of the relevance of climate-friendly private investments, as well as the role of public interventions for the mobilization thereof; and a commitment of all to prepare for environments stimulating mobilization of private and public climate finance; and provisions to regularly report on provision, receipt and use of support.

The submission from Ukraine contains a section on the application of the Convention principles, and another on the scope, structure and design of the new agreement. On mitigation, Ukraine underlines that national mitigation efforts should be taken by all on the basis of national circumstances and socio-economic factors, and supports a “bottom-up” approach in establishing the committments from each party, consistent with the Convention principles and the CBDR principle. Ukraine indicates that only major emitters’ committments should be quantified with a schedule of achieveing targets, and notes that land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) actions should be “an essential part of the overall target.” It argues that the 2015 agreement should contain provisions on: the Kyoto mechanisms, new markets and non-market instruments; accounting rules; and the importance of enhancing international cooperation to address adaptation.

In its submission, the EU outlines priorities for the ADP’s work in 2014, including: all parties begin or speed up the development of proposed mitigation commitments well in advance of the Paris COP; agreement on the requirements for “upfront information;” progress on a collective view on how proposed commitments will be considered by the international community, as well as towards a rules-based 2015 agreement, in particular in relation to monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), accounting and compliance; progress on how means of implementation and adaptation will be reflected in the 2015 agreement; and emergence of a first draft negotiating text by COP 20.

The EU submission focuses on the elaboration of elements of the 2015 agreement and clarification of information guidance. It details its views on the objectives, the structure and legal form, and the scope of the 2015 agreement. On information guidance, the EU underlines that proposed mitigation commitments must be accompanied by a minimum level of up front information in order to ensure that they are transparent, quantifiable, comparable, verifiable and ambitious. It then sets out a proposition for discussion of the kinds of up front information for all commitment types, and specific additional information in relation to particular types of commitment. The EU concludes by stressing that working towards a rules-based 2015 agreement must be the a priority of the ADP in 2014.

In its submission, Uzbekistan argues that in 2014, the ADP should “consider the financing issues via the Green Climate Fund” (GCF) in order to assess country capacity in terms developing national climate mitigation strategies. It states that the 2015 agreement should: be wider in scope than the Kyoto Protocol and monitor global emissions and emissions of key emitters separately; develop flexible mechanisms to enhance ambition of developed countries and key emitters; include a balanced distribution of resources between adaptation and mitigation; create and develop an MRV system for the comparison of actions of all countries both in relation to financial support and mitigation action; and promote and facilitate technology development and transfer. [Switzerland’s Submission] [Ukraine’s Submission] [EU Submission] [Uzbekistan’s Submission] [IISD RS Story on the US’ Submission to the ADP] [IISD RS Story on the ADP’s Organization of Work] [ADP 2-4 Webpage]