6 August 2012: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released the report of a workshop on equitable access to sustainable development (EASD), which convened in Bonn, Germany, on 16 May 2012. The report contains a summary of the workshop presentations and the exchanges of views and discussions held, which can serve as input to relevant further discussion and consideration by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA).

The objective of the workshop was to facilitate exchanges of views on EASD and to explore links to different activities under the Convention, with a view to increasing the understanding of EASD and facilitate negotiations related to a shared vision for long-term cooperative action. The meeting, organized by the Secretariat under the guidance of the Chair of the AWG-LCA, addressed issues on: the context for equity and EASD; the definition of equity; application of the equity principle; and possible next steps.

Participants also discussed, inter alia: decoupling carbon from economic growth; national circumstances; and historical and future responsibilities. On the way forward, some parties supported taking forward a work programme on equity and argued that a decision on this matter should be taken at the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UNFCCC in Doha, Qatar to be held at the end of the year. Other parties suggested that equity continue to be discussed under relevant agenda items.

The notion of EASD was introduced in the Cancun Agreements adopted at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in the context of a timeframe for global peaking of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in which the COP recognized that the timeframe for peaking will be longer in developing countries, and that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries. At COP 17, in Durban, South Africa, parties agreed to consider the issue of EASD through a workshop to be held at the first part of the 15th session of the AWG-LCA. [Report on the Workshop on Equitable Access to Sustainable Development]