May negotiations within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Bonn, Germany, came to an end. They were imprinted by solving the technical difficulties in preparing the ground for meeting the Paris Agreement goals and shaping the rules that will withdraw the economies of the signatory states towards the future of zero carbon footprint. In the upcoming period, technical guidelines will be given a political character.
Following the tradition of the peace-loving Pacific people, political officials and non-party stakeholders got involved in Talanoa dialogue for the first time. The participants were looking for the answers to the questions: Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we get there?
Progress has been made in the field of drafting guidelines for the Paris Agreement – especially when it comes to the global stocktake. Its role will be to review progress and increase ambition, efforts and results of countries’ climate change actions in the five-year cycles.
The deadline for the conclusion of the PA Rulebook is the 24th Conference of the Parties that will take place in the Polish town of Katowice in December. In order to prepare themselves for the event, delegates decided to meet one more time this year. Place and time for the next gathering? Bangkok (Thailand), September.
Are the participants satisfied with the outcome of the meetings in Germany?
Camilla Born, senior policy advisor for E3G, stated: “Negotiations went better than expected. Parties showed they are serious about delivering the Paris Agreement so in Bonn they got down to serious business. The next challenge is to mobilize the political will to get the COP24 outcomes over the line in Katowice.”
Mohamed Adow, on the other hand, has expressed concern about securing financial resources for the system transformation and adaptation in order to neutralize the negative effects of global warming: “The radio silence on money has sown fears among poor countries that their wealthier counterparts are not serious about honouring their promises. This funding is not just a bargaining chip, it is essential for delivering the national plans that make up the Paris Agreement. For the Paris Agreement to be a success we need the Katowice COP to be a success. And for the Katowice COP to be a success we need assurances that sources of funding will be coming.”
Li Shou, Greenpeace representative, spoke about the Talanoa Dialogue. “The architecture is there for ambition to be raised, the Talanoa Dialogue, which has led to a real spirit of cooperation, getting beyond the finger-pointing to remind everyone that we all share the same planet and we all need to do more to protect it. The mood created by Talanoa has to start delivering tangible results in the form of enhanced national targets, and we look forward to the EU and China taking an early lead on this.”, Shou said.
Jelena Kozbasic
