Sun, Dec 9, 2012
Countries have successfully launched a new
commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol,
agreed a firm timetable to adopt a universal
climate agreement by 2015 and agreed a path
to raise necessary ambition to respond to
climate change.
(Doha, 8 December 2012) At the UN Climate
Change Conference in Doha, Qatar (COP18/CMP8),
governments have taken the next essential
step in the global response to climate change.
UNEP COP18 WebsiteBridging
the Emissions GapUNEP and Climate ChangeUnited
Nations Framework Convention on Climate
ChangeCountries have successfully launched
a new commitment period under the Kyoto
Protocol, agreed a firm timetable to adopt
a universal climate agreement by 2015 and
agreed a path to raise necessary ambition
to respond to climate change. They also
endorsed the completion of new institutions
and agreed ways and means to deliver scaled-up
climate finance and technology to developing
countries.
"Doha has opened
up a new gateway to bigger ambition and
to greater action - the Doha Climate Gateway.
Qatar is proud to have been able to bring
governments here to achieve this historic
task. I thank all governments and ministers
for their work to achieve this success.
Now governments must move quickly through
the Doha Climate Gateway to push forward
with the solutions to climate change,"
said COP President Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah.
The Executive Secretary
of the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, called
on countries to swiftly implement what has
been agreed in Doha so that the world can
stay below the internationally agreed maximum
two degrees Celsius temperature rise.
"I congratulate
the Qatar Presidency for managing a complex
and challenging conference. Now, there is
much work to do. Doha is another step in
the right direction, but we still have a
long road ahead. The door to stay below
two degrees remains barely open. The science
shows it, the data proves it," said
Ms Figueres.
"The UN Climate
Change negotiations must now focus on the
concrete ways and means to accelerate action
and ambition. The world has the money and
technology to stay below two degrees. After
Doha, it is a matter of scale, speed, determination
and sticking to the timetable," she
said.
In Doha, governments
also successfully concluded work under the
Convention that began in Bali in 2007 and
ensured that remaining elements of this
work will be continued under the UN Climate
Change process.
The next major UN Climate
Change Conference - COP19/ CMP9 - will take
place in Warsaw, Poland, at the end of 2013.
The results of COP18/CMP8
in more detail
1) Amendment of the
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol,
as the only existing and binding agreement
under which developed countries commit to
cutting greenhouse gases, has been amended
so that it will continue as of 1 January
2013.
Governments have decided
that the length of the second commitment
period will be 8 years.
The legal requirements that will allow a
smooth continuation of the Protocol have
been agreed.
The valuable accounting rules of the protocol
have been preserved.
Countries that are taking
on further commitments under the Kyoto Protocol
have agreed to review their emission reduction
commitments at the latest by 2014, with
a view to increasing their respective levels
of ambition.
The Kyoto Protocol's
Market Mechanisms - the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation (JI)
and International Emissions Trading (IET)
- can continue as of 2013.
Access to the mechanisms
will be uninterrupted for all developed
countries that have accepted targets for
the second commitment period.
JI will continue to
operate, with the agreed technical rules
allowing the issuance of credits, once a
host country's emissions target has been
formally established.
Australia, the EU, Japan,
Lichtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland have
declared that they will not carry over any
surplus emissions trading credits (Assigned
Amounts) into the second commitment period
of the Kyoto Protocol.
2) Time table for the
2015 global climate change agreement and
increasing ambition before 2020
Governments have agreed
to speedily work toward a universal climate
change agreement covering all countries
from 2020, to be adopted by 2015, and to
find ways to scale up efforts before 2020
beyond the existing pledges to curb emissions
so that the world can stay below the agreed
maximum 2 degrees Celsius temperature rise.
A significant number
of meetings and workshops are to be held
in 2013 to prepare the new agreement and
to explore further ways to raise ambition.
Governments have agreed
to submit to the UN Climate Change Secretariat,
by 1 March 2013, information, views and
proposals on actions, initiatives and options
to enhance ambition.
Elements of a negotiating
text are to be available no later than the
end of 2014, so that a draft negotiating
text is available before May 2015.
In Doha, the UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon announced he would convene
world leaders in 2014 to mobilize the political
will to help ensure the 2015 deadline is
met.
3) Completion of new
infrastructure
In Doha, governments
significantly advanced the completion of
new infrastructure to channel technology
and finance to developing nations and move
toward the full implementation of this infrastructure
and support. Most importantly, they have:
endorsed the selection
of the Republic of Korea as the location
of the Green Climate Fund and the work plan
of the Standing Committee on Finance. The
Green Climate Fund is expected to start
its work in Sondgo in the second half of
2013, which means that it can launch activities
in 2014.
confirmed a UNEP-led
consortium as host of the Climate Technology
Center (CTC), for an initial term of five
years. The CTC, along with its associated
Network, is the implementing arm of the
UNFCCCs Technology Mechanism. Governments
have also agreed the constitution of the
CTC advisory board.
4) Long-term climate
finance
Developed countries
have reiterated their commitment to deliver
on promises to continue long- term climate
finance support to developing nations, with
a view to mobilizing 100 billion USD both
for adaptation and mitigation by 2020.
The agreement also encourages
developed countries to increase efforts
to provide finance between 2013-15 at least
to the average annual level with which they
provided funds during the 2010-2012 fast-start
finance period. This is to ensure there
is no gap in continued finance support while
efforts are otherwise scaled up.
Governments will continue
a work programme on long-term finance during
2013 under two co- chairs to contribute
to the on-going efforts to scale up mobilization
of climate finance and report to the next
COP on pathways to reach that target.
Germany, the UK, France,
Denmark, Sweden and the EU Commission announced
concrete finance pledges in Doha for the
period up to 2015, totaling approximately
6 billion USD.
Other key outcomes of
COP18/CMP8 in Doha
Review
Governments have launched
a robust process to review the long-term
temperature goal. This will start in 2013
and conclude by 2015, and is a reality check
on the advance of the climate change threat
and the possible need to mobilize further
action.
Adaptation
Governments have identified
ways to further strengthen the adaptive
capacities of the most vulnerable, also
through better planning.
A pathway has been established
towards concrete institutional arrangements
to provide the most vulnerable populations
with better protection against loss and
damage caused by slow onset events such
as rising sea levels.
Ways to implement National
Adaptation Plans for least developed countries
have been agreed, including linking funding
and other support
Support of developing
country action
Governments have completed
a registry to record developing country
mitigation actions that seek recognition
or financial support. The registry will
be a flexible, dynamic, web-based platform.
A new work programme
to build capacity through climate change
education and training, create public awareness
and enable the public to participate in
climate change decision-making has been
agreed in Doha. This is important to create
a groundswell of support for embarking on
a new climate change regime after 2020
New market mechanisms
A work programme has
been agreed to further elaborate the new
market-based mechanism under the UNFCCC,
and also sets out possible elements for
its operation.
A work programme to
develop a framework for recognizing mechanisms
established outside the UNFCCC, such as
nationally-administered or bilateral offset
programmes, and to consider their role in
helping countries to meet their mitigation
targets, has also been agreed.
Actions on forests
In Doha, governments
have further clarified ways to measure deforestation,
and to ensure that efforts to fight deforestation
are supported.
Carbon Capture and Storage
Governments meeting in Doha have looked
at ways to ensure the effectiveness and
environmental integrity of projects under
the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism
that capture and store carbon emissions
Development and transfer
of technology
Countries have taken
forward work on enabling the development
and transfer of technologies that can help
developing countries adapt and curb their
emissions.
Avoiding negative consequences
of climate action
In some cases, the implementation
of actions that reduce emissions could result
in negative economic or social consequences
for other countries. In Doha, governments
discussed measures to address such consequences
in a special forum.
About the UNFCCC
With 195 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 193 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.
