4 May 2015: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released the final report of the structured expert dialogue (SED) on the 2013-2015 review (FCCC/SB/2015/INF.1), which will be considered by the joint contact group on the 2013-2015 review during the 42nd session of the subsidiary bodies, scheduled to take place from 1-11 June 2015, in Bonn, Germany.

In 2010, the Conference of the Parties (COP) recognized that deep cuts in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are required according to science with a view to reducing global GHG emissions so as to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels (the long-term global goal).

The COP also decided to periodically review the adequacy of this long-term global goal in the light of the ultimate objective of the Convention (theme 1 of the review), and overall progress towards achieving the long-term global goal, including a consideration of the implementation of the commitments under the Convention (theme 2 of the review). The 2013-2015 review was also tasked with the consideration of the strengthening the long-term global goal referencing various matters by the science, including in relation to temperature rises of 1.5 °C.

The 2013-2015 review is carried out by the COP with assistance from the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), which established a joint contact group. The COP established the SED in 2012 to support the work of the joint contact group and ensure the scientific integrity of the review through a focused exchange of views, information and ideas.

Since its inception, the SED held four sessions. The final report of the SED summarizes the face-to-face dialogue between over 70 experts and Parties that took place during these four sessions on the two themes of the review. It includes a technical summary and a compilation of the summary reports on the four sessions of the SED.

The technical summary synthesizes the work done by the SED and includes ten messages capturing the key findings from its sessions. These ten messages are the following: a long-term global goal defined by a temperature limit serves its purpose well; imperatives of achieving the long-term global goal are explicitly articulated and at our disposal, and demonstrate the cumulative nature of the challenge and the need to act soon and decisively; assessing the adequacy of the long-term global goal implies risk assessments and value judgments not only at the global level, but also at the regional and local levels; climate change impacts are hitting home, and the ‘guardrail’ concept, which implies a warming limit that guarantees full protection from dangerous anthropogenic interference, no longer works; the ‘guardrail’ concept, in which up to 2 °C of warming is considered safe, is inadequate and would therefore be better seen as an upper limit, a defence line that needs to be stringently defended, while less warming would be preferable; limiting global warming to below 2 °C is still feasible and will bring about many co-benefits, but poses substantial technological, economic and institutional challenges; we know how to measure progress on mitigation but challenges still exist in measuring progress on adaptation; the world is not on track to achieve the long-term global goal, but successful mitigation policies are known and must be scaled up urgently; we learned from various processes, in particular those under the Convention, about efforts to scale up provision of finance, technology and capacity-building for climate action; and while science on the 1.5 °C warming limit is less robust, efforts should be made to push the defence line as low as possible. [Publication: Report on the Structured Expert Dialogue on the 2013-2015 Review] [2013-2015 Review Webpage]