20 November 2015: Co-Chairs Ahmed Djoghlaf (Algeria) and Daniel Reifsnyder (US) have released the scenario note for the 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12), which is scheduled to take place from 1-5 December 2015, in conjunction with the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC. The scenario note sets out the Co-Chairs’ proposed organization of work for the meeting.

The ADP is tasked with negotiating the text of “a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties.” The Co-Chairs state that the objective of ADP 2-12 will be to “finalize at the level of senior officials the draft Paris Climate Package containing a draft Paris agreement as well as accompanying draft decision(s) on workstream 1 [the 2015 agreement] and workstream 2 [pre-2020 ambition] and to transmit the outcome to the COP for further consideration and adoption.”

In the note, the Co-Chairs suggest that the ADP opening plenary take place at 5:00 pm on 29 November 2015, with the first spin-off groups taking place on 30 November 2015 from 7:00-9:00 pm. They further propose that the ADP contact group, which will meet in square table format, convene on 1 December 2015 at 10:00 am. The Co-Chairs explain that if any Party opposes the proposed schedule, the ADP opening plenary will take place on 1 December 2015 at 10:00 and no work will take place in spin-off groups before that time.

The contact group, as well as spin-off groups on various elements of the agreement, will meet daily and post progress on text to the ADP’s webpage, according to the note. Spin-off groups are expected to finish work by 6:00 pm on 3 December 2015 and the discussions of elements assigned to the contact group will need to conclude by 9:00 pm on the same day, as stated in the note, in order to make a consolidated, revised version of all the text available by 8:00 am on 4 December 2015. The open-ended contact group will then consider the revised text with a view to finalizing its work on the draft agreement and decision(s) by 10:00 am on 5 December 2015 for transmission to the COP.

In addition, the Co-Chairs will hold pre-sessional consultations with Parties, groups of Parties and the COP 20 and COP 21 Presidencies on 25-28 November 2015. The Co-Chairs will hear Parties’ views on the mode of work in an open-ended informal consultation at 6:30 pm on 28 November 2015. [ADP 2-12 Scenario Note] [ADP 2-12 Meeting Webpage]