26 November 2012: The 2012 UN Climate Change Conference has opened in Doha, Qatar. The meeting will include the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 8). The Conference will run from 26 November-7 December 2012.

Five subsidiary bodies will also convene: the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), Ad Hoc Working Group on Annex I Parties’ Further Commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP), Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) and Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP).

Key issues before CMP 8 are expected to include the adoption of amendments to the Kyoto Protocol for the second commitment period.

Under the Convention, the AWG-LCA, established by COP 13 in Bali, is scheduled to present its final outcome to COP 18 and terminate its work.

The COP will also hear a report from the ADP concerning progress made during the first year of negotiations under this new subsidiary body, mandated to develop “a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties” by 2015. [IISD RS Meeting Coverage]