The United Nations Climate Change secretariat has published a series of reports summing up the results of the Climate Change conference held in Copenhagen last December. These are of use to journalists as follow-up material or background/archives. Click here for the news release.
NEWS RELEASE:
(Bonn, 31 March 2010) - The UN Climate Change Secretariat Wednesday
published official reports on the results of last year's UN Climate
Change Conference in Copenhagen (7-19 December 2009).
The reports detail the outcomes of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties
at its 15th session (COP 15) and of the Conference of the Parties
serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol on its fifth
session (CMP 5). Each report is in two parts: one on formal proceedings
and one on the decisions adopted by the relevant body. The reports can
be found on the <unfccc.int> web site at: http://unfccc.int/5257.php.
Since the closing of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has
received submissions of national pledges to cut or limit emissions of
greenhouse gases by 2020 from 75 Parties, which together account for
more than 80% per cent of global emissions from energy use.
41 industrialised countries have formally communicated their
economy-wide targets to the UNFCCC. 35 developing countries have
communicated information on the nationally appropriate mitigation
actions they are planning to take, provided they receive the appropriate
support in terms of finance and technology. These communications can be
found on the <unfccc.int> web site at: http://unfccc.int/5265.php.
"It is clear that while the pledges on the table are an important step
towards the objective of limiting growth of emissions, they will not in
themselves suffice to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius," said
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer. "The Climate Conference at the
end of this year in Mexico therefore needs to put in place effective
cooperative mechanisms capable of bringing about significant
acceleration of national, regional and international action both to
limit the growth of emissions and to prepare for the inevitable impacts
of climate change," he added.
The report of the Conference of the Parties contains, inter alia, the
text of the Copenhagen Accord and lists the 112 Parties (111 countries
and the European Union) that have indicated their support for the
Accord. See: http://unfccc.int/5257.php.
"The Copenhagen Accord is not least significant because it includes a
clear pledge by industrialised nations to provide short-term and
long-term finance for developing countries for adaptation and
mitigation," said Yvo de Boer, "At the same time, it is clear that the
Accord can be used to help advance the formal negotiations towards a
successful outcome in Mexico," he added.
Decisions that were adopted in Copenhagen include decisions on the
improvement to the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM),
which are designed to speed up processes for stakeholders, to assist
countries with fewer than 10 registered CDM projects to launch more
projects, and to enhance CDM governance, including through procedures
for stakeholders to appeal decisions. See: http://unfccc.int/5257.php.
The Copenhagen Conference decided to continue negotiations on a range of
draft decisions, which can be found at:
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/awg10/eng/17.pdf
http://unfccc.int/meetings/ad_hoc_working_groups/lca/items/5243.php
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/awg10/eng/17.pdf
It is important to keep in mind that many of these decisions, which
would enable immediate action on climate change, came close to
completion in Copenhagen," said the UN's top climate change official Yvo
de Boer. "This work can be completed in Mexico, with the adoption of a
strong and balanced package of decisions," he added.
The next round of UNFCCC negotiations is scheduled to be held in Bonn,
Germany, on 9-11 April. This meeting will be followed by a two-week
negotiating round which will comprise the 32nd session of the UNFCCC
Convention subsidiary bodies, between 31 May and 11 June 2010. Both
gatherings will take place in the Maritim Hotel in Bonn.
The April UNFCCC sessions are designed to agree on the organization and
methods of work in 2010. This includes the number and duration of any
additional UNFCCC negotiating sessions in the second half of 2010, in
the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Mexico (29 November to
10 December).
Accreditation for the April meeting is open ( see
http://unfccc.int/press/items/2794.php). The UN Climate Change
Secretariat will give a closing press conference on 11 April at the
Maritim Hotel at 13:15 (upon conclusion of the morning plenary sessions) which will be
followed by press briefings of interested Parties. All press briefings will be broadcast live.
About the UNFCCC
With 194 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the
1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 190 of the
UNFCCC Parties. Under the Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly
industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of
transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation
and reduction commitments. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to
stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level
that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
UNFCCC media office: http://unfccc.int/press/items/2794.php
END
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