Welcome Back to Bonn!

Delegates from around the world have descended upon Bonn, Germany for the second time this year as negotiations begin during the third session of the UN climate change negotiations.

With only ten negotiation days left before the highly anticipated negotiations in Paris begin, delegates have their work cut out for them. Rumours are circulating that certain countries may be pushing for an additional intersessional, which would see another five days of negotiations, in lieu of a pre-COP meeting, as first hosted by Venezuela last year.

This week will see governments work through the ADP co-chairs’ tool which has segregated the different elements of the negotiating text drafted in Geneva earlier this year into three sections:

• Section I – text pertaining to the core agreement;
• Section II – elements to be addressed via COP decisions, and;
• Section III – text where there is currently disagreement as to whether it belongs in the legal agreement, or an accompanying COP decision.

The Climate Action Network (CAN) is pushing for elements from Section III to be moved into either Section I or II if the Paris agreement is to be anything more than adequate. Tweaking language in the negotiating text will help move the negotiations forward, but this requires equal participation from the parties and not just the co-chairs.

Luckily, there is a solid foundation to build upon. During the most recent informal ministerial discussions hosted by the outgoing Peruvian and incoming French presidencies, consensus was been established on some issues including the need for a five-year review cycle, a common post-2020 transparency regime, and the durability of the agreement. Following this week, there will be another informal ministerial meeting on September 6 and 7.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently said: “I hope negotiators and ministers (will) look beyond their national interests” and accelerate progress towards an effective agreement in Paris.