18 October 2016: In preparation for the next round of intergovernmental climate negotiations in Marrakesh, Morocco, in November, Parties to the UNFCCC have submitted their views on a number of items to be discussed under the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA). The UNFCCC Secretariat has complied and published Parties’ submissions received after the 30 September deadline.

The APA will convene the second part of its first session in conjunction with the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UNFCCC, taking place from 7-18 November 2016. On its agenda item 3, related to nationally determined contributions (NDCs), the Secretariat has released five additional submissions (FCCC/APA/2016/INF.1/Add.1) received from: Maldives on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS); Saint Lucia on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Slovakia and the European Commission on behalf of the EU and its member States and supported by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of (fYR) Macedonia; Switzerland on behalf of the Environmental Integrity Group (EIG); and the US. Thirteen other submissions received earlier are contained in FCCC/APA/2016/INF.1. [Parties’ Views Regarding Further Guidance in Relation to the Mitigation Section of Decision 1/CP.21]

Agenda item 4 of the APA will cover the concept of an adaptation communication, including as a component of NDCs. For this item, three additional submissions were received (FCCC/APA/2016/INF.2/Add.1) from: Morocco; Slovakia and the European Commission on behalf of the EU and its member States and supported by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and fYR Macedonia; and Vanuatu. These are in addition to 13 received and compiled in FCCC/APA/2016/INF.2. [Parties’ Views Regarding Further Guidance in Relation to the Adaptation Communication]

APA agenda item 5, transparency, also garnered a number of submissions including two from (FCCC/APA/2016/INF.3/Add.1): Vanuatu; and Slovakia and the European Commission on behalf of the EU and its member States, and supported by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and fYR Macedonia. These complement the 13 (FCCC/APA/2016/INF.3) received and published earlier. [Parties’ Views Regarding Modalities, Procedures and Guidelines for the Transparency Framework for Action and Support Referred to in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement]

Finally the APA will discuss the global stocktake (GST) referred to in Article 14 of the Paris Agreement, including identifying the sources of input and its modalities under agenda item 6. The Secretariat compiled and released four submissions (FCCC/APA/2016/INF.4/Add.1), additional to the previous 11 received (FCCC/APA/2016/INF.4), on this item, from: Canada on behalf of Australia, Canada, Japan and the US; Norway; Republic of Korea on behalf of EIG; and Slovakia and the European Commission on behalf of the EU and its member States, and supported by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and fYR Macedonia. [Parties’ Views Regarding Matters Relating to the Global Stocktake Referred to in Article 14 of the Paris Agreement]

During the Marrakech Climate Change Conference, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) will also convene its 45th session. With regard to the Paris Agreement, the SBSTA has been tasked with elaborating on the technology framework established under Article 10.4. In June, the SBSTA invited submissions on the content, features, characteristics, purpose and themes of the technology framework.

In a document (FCCC/SBSTA/2016/MISC.4) released on 12 October, the Secretariat complies nine such submissions received from: Brazil; Canada on behalf of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and the US; Costa Rica on behalf of the Independent Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC); the Democratic Republic of the Congo on behalf of least developed countries (LDCs); India; Indonesia; Mali on behalf of the African Group; the Republic of Korea; and Slovakia and the European Commission on behalf of the EU and its member States, and supported by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. [Elaboration of the Technology Framework]

The Paris Agreement was adopted by Parties to the UNFCCC in December 2015 and will enter into force on 4 November 2016. Under the Paris Agreement, Parties will make their NDCs, outlining their climate change targets. Each successive NDC is expected to be at least as ambitious as the Party’s previous one. Through these national pledges, Parties aim to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. The APA is the primary body under which Parties are preparing for entry into force and implementation of the Paris Agreement. [IISD RS Story on the First Batch of Parties’ Views on APA Items]