4 March 2016: The first meeting of the subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC since the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 will take place from 16-26 May 2016, in Bonn, Germany. The Secretariat has released the provisional agendas of all three bodies that will be meeting, namely the first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA 1) and the 44th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 44) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 44).

The APA was established at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC in Decision 1/CP.21 for the purpose of preparing for the entry into force of the Agreement and for the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1). The advanced version of the agenda for APA 1 includes items on: additional guidance for nationally determined contributions (NDCs); modalities, procedures and guidelines for the transparency framework for action and support under the Agreement; the global stocktake; and modalities and procedures for effective operation of the Agreement’s compliance mechanism.

According to the advanced version of its provisional agenda, the SBI will be discussing, inter alia: reporting from both developed and developing countries Parties; Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol; matters related to Least Developed Countries (LDCs); National Adaptation Plans (NAPs); the third review of the Adaptation Fund; Action for Climate Empowerment (Article 6 of the Convention); impact of the implementation of response measures; the scope of the next periodic review of the long-term global goal under the Convention and of overall progress towards achieving it; and gender and climate change.

With regard to the Paris Agreement, the SBI will take up a number of items with which it was tasked at COP 21, including: the registry for NDCs; the scope and modalities for the periodic assessment of the Technology Mechanism in relation to supporting the implementation of the Agreement; and terms of reference for the Paris Committee on Capacity-Building.

The SBSTA’s provisional agenda indicates it will take up, inter alia: the Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change; issues relating to agriculture; the scope of the next periodic review of the long-term global goal under the Convention and of overall progress towards achieving it; impact of the implementation of response measures; methodological issues under the Convention; methodological issues under the Kyoto Protocol; market and non-market mechanisms under the Convention; and cooperation with other international organizations.

In relation to the Paris Agreement, the SBSTA will consider: the technology framework; assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the global stocktake; guidance on cooperative approaches that involve the use of internationally transferred mitigation outcomes toward NDCs; rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism established to contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation and support sustainable development; work programme under the framework for non-market approaches; and modalities for the accounting of financial resources provided and mobilized through public interventions. [APA 1 Provisional Agenda] [SBI 44 Provisional Agenda] [SBSTA 44 Provisional Agenda] [Bonn Climate Change Conference – May 2016 Meeting Webpage]