Delegates convened in Bonn, Germany, from 1-12 June 2009, to participate in four meetings as part of ongoing negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. The Convention’s Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) held their 30th sessions. The sixth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 6) and the eighth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Protocol (AWG-KP 8) also took place. The main focus in Bonn was to enhance international climate change cooperation, including in the post-2012 period when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires. The long-term issues were considered by the AWG-LCA and AWG-KP, which are both scheduled to conclude their work by the fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.
AWG-LCA 6 concentrated on developing negotiating text, using a Chair’s draft (FCCC/AWGLCA/2009/8) as the starting point. The AWG-LCA completed the first and second readings of the draft negotiating text, a 200-page document that will be forwarded to the AWG-LCA’s next meeting. The draft covers all of the main elements of the Bali Action Plan, namely a shared vision for long-term cooperative action, mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology.
AWG-KP 8 continued considering Annex I parties’ further commitments under the Protocol. Discussions focused on proposals by various parties for Annex I countries’ aggregate and individual emission reduction targets beyond 2012. No agreement was reached on the targets.
The main outcomes from the SBI included agreement to reconstitute the Consultative Group of Experts on Non-Annex I National Communications. Under the SBSTA, the main issues considered included research and systematic observation, various methodological issues, technology transfer, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD). Overall, these meetings resulted in the adoption of 31 conclusions and seven draft decisions that will be forwarded to the COP or to the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (COP/MOP) in December 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, for their consideration.
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