Climate Convention COP 16/CMP 6 (+2 intersession meetings)
The 16th Meeting of the Parties to the Climate Convention will take place in 2010 in Cancun (Mexico). Negotiations will largely be based on the future climate system (post-2012). Contributions made by both industrialised and developing countries to the global effort and financing will make up the core of these complex negotiations, during which the issue of adapting to climatic changes will also be raised, together with the role of technology and measures being taken to prevent deforestation.
The UN Framework Convention on Climatic Change came about in 1992. It was rounded off with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised signatories made a commitment for the 2008-2012 period to reduce yearly emissions by at least 5% in relation to 1990, the starting year. Negotiations towards post-2012 climate policy began in Montreal in 2005, and were intensified in Bali, 2007. These negotiations were expected to conclude in Copenhagen in 2009. In spite of progress made, the positions of the Parties remained too distant to enable them to draw up a new climate policy. Outside of the Copenhagen agreement, it was agreed to further negotiations. Arrangements were made in April 2010 concerning the working programme. In June 2010 (AWG-KP 12 & AWG-LCA 10) basic negotiations recommenced. In the second half of 2010, there will be two further intersession meetings, with the possibility of a High-Level Meeting to prepare for the climate conference in Cancun, Mexico.
The negotiations will focus on the central issue of the contributions made by both industrialised and developing countries to the global effort to reduce emissions, and how the latter are financed. Other issues will also be dealt with, particularly flexible mechanisms (carbon market), adapting to climate changes, strengthening capacities, technologies and measures to halt deforestation in tropical regions.
In view of the Copenhagen experience, the Cancun Conference is not expected to result in a conclusive end to the work. The objective remains to advance as much as possible in certain areas, while aiming for a binding agreement by 2011.
In the build-up to the climate conference, 2 or 3 intersession meetings will be organised over the course of 2010:
- Ad-hoc Working Group Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) 13 & Ad-hoc Working Group Long term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) 11
- AWG-KP 14 & AWG-LCA 12
- High-Level Meeting of AWG-KP & AWG-LCA
Where
AWG-KP 13 & AWG-LCA 11: Bonn