21 November 2017: The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany concluded early Saturday morning, 18 November 2017. The conference, which convened under the Presidency of Fiji, included the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UNFCCC, the 13th session of the COP serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 13), and the second part of the first session of the serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1-2). Three subsidiary bodies also met: the 47th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 47) and Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 47), and the fourth part of the first session of the Ad hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA 1-4).

The conference brought together over 16,000 participants and adopted 31 decisions that: provide guidance on the completion of the Paris Agreement work programme; launch the Talanoa Dialogue (the Fijian name for the 2018 facilitative dialogue); give prominence to pre-2020 implementation and ambition, under the ‘Fiji Momentum for Implementation;’ operationalize the local communities and indigenous peoples platform; establish a gender action plan; decide that the Adaptation Fund shall serve the Paris Agreement subject to decisions to be taken at CMA 1-3; take work forward on long-term finance; and give guidance to the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (WIM).

The two goals set for the COP by the Fijian Presidency – advancing work on the Paris Agreement implementation guidelines, and agreeing on the design of the Talanoa Dialogue, named after a Pacific storytelling tradition that fosters empathy and trust – were met. This update highlights some of the more significant outcomes and decisions taken at the conference.

The COP adopted a decision on the ‘Fiji Momentum for Implementation’ that: sets the stage for negotiations in 2018 in a transparent, inclusive and cost-effective manner; contains the design of the 2018 facilitative dialogue; and outlines the importance of pre-2020 implementation and action. In the decision, the COP agrees to accelerate completion of the Paris Agreement work programme by COP 24, and recognizes that this may require an additional negotiating session between SB 48 (April-May 2018) and COP 24. The COP welcomes the design of the 2018 facilitative dialogue, or Talanoa Dialogue, and agrees to launch the Dialogue beginning in January 2018.

The COP also adopted a decision on long-term finance, which: requests developed countries to prepare their next round of updated biennial submissions on strategies and approaches for scaling up climate finance for 2018-2020; requests the Secretariat to explore ways and means to assist developing countries in assessing their needs and priorities; requests the Secretariat to organize a 2018 in-session workshop and prepare a summary report for consideration by COP 24; and invites the COP Presidency, in organizing the 2018 high-level ministerial dialogue, to consider focusing on the topic of access to climate finance.

Countries discussed the Adaptation Fund in relation to its role serving the Paris Agreement on climate change, only reaching agreement early Saturday morning, 18 November. In its decision, the CMP decides that: the Adaptation Fund shall serve the Paris Agreement subject to and consistent with decisions to be taken at CMA 1-3 in December 2018; it will consider whether the Adaptation Fund shall serve the Paris Agreement exclusively following a CMA recommendation to CMP 15 in November 2019; and notes the APA’s progress in undertaking preparatory work to address governance and institutional arrangements, safeguards and operating modalities for the Adaptation Fund to serve the Paris Agreement.

A number of closing statements recognized the historic nature of the decision on a gender action plan.

Regarding the WIM, the COP agreed to, inter alia, request the Secretariat to organize, in conjunction with SB 48, an expert dialogue on loss and damage, and encourage Parties to disseminate, promote and utilize WIM products, including by establishing a loss and damage contact point through UNFCCC national focal points.

On gender, the COP agreed to, inter alia: adopt a gender action plan; request the Secretariat to prepare for November 2019, a synthesis report on implementation of the gender action plan; and review implementation of the action plan at COP 25. In closing statements, a number of delegates recognized the historic nature of this decision.

On agriculture, the COP: requested the SBSTA and SBI to jointly address issues related to agriculture, including through workshops and expert meetings, and consider the vulnerabilities of agriculture to climate change and approaches to addressing food security. The COP invited the submission of views by March 2018 on, inter alia: assessment of adaptation, adaptation co-benefits and resilience; improved soil carbon, health and fertility; improved nutrient use and manure management; improved livestock management systems; and socio-economic and food security dimensions of climate change. It also requests the SBs to report on progress and outcomes of work at COP 26.

In a decision applauded by many, the local communities and indigenous peoples platform was operationalized, following discussions regarding how much decision-making power to concede to non-Party stakeholders. The COP specifies shared chairmanship by state and indigenous peoples’ representatives, similar to the Working Group on Traditional Knowledge, Innovations and Practices, or Article 8(j), under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD). The COP decision also notes the platform’s aim of: strengthening the knowledge, technologies, practices, and efforts of local communities and indigenous peoples related to addressing climate change; enhancing engagement of local communities and indigenous peoples in the UNFCCC process; and facilitating the integration of diverse knowledge systems, practices and innovations in designing and implementing policies. The COP also recommends that processes under the platform consider the interests and views of local communities and indigenous peoples; decides on the convening of a multi-stakeholder workshop on implementing the functions of the platform; decides that the workshop will be co-moderated by the SBSTA Chair and a representative of local communities and indigenous peoples’ organizations; and requests SBSTA 48 to further operationalize the platform, including through the establishment of a facilitative working group, which will not be a negotiating body.

APA conclusions adopted by Parties regarding its future work state that: the Co-Chairs intend to issue, by early April 2018, a reflections note with an overview of the outcomes of this session and a suggested way forward; focused textual proposals would be most helpful in allowing Parties to focus on substance in their deliberations; and additional negotiating time in 2018 may be useful. [IISD RS Summary Report of COP 23] [IISD RS Coverage of COP 23]