Download Outcomes of the Twenty-first Session of the Conference of the

Outcomes of the Twenty-first Session of the
Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Paris
Mr. David Kaluba
Interim Inter-Ministerial Secretariat for Climate Change
February 4, 2016
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PARIS COP 21
The Paris Climate Change Conference was held from 30th
November to 12th December 2016 in Le Boughert, outside Paris,
France
The Conference brought together over 45,000 participants,
including 150 Presidents and Prime Ministers at the Leaders a
Event on 30th November, the largest ever, single day gathering
of Heads of State
While negotiations were hard fought and progress
characteristically slow, there were no major procedural show
downs largely due to the deft diplomacy of the French Cop
Presidency
The Conference went 24 hours past the official deadline, but
Parties were generally unanimous in wrangles and Parties
heralded the Agreement as historical once it was adopted on
Saturday 12th December
OUTCOMES FROM PARIS COP 21
There were two major outcomes from the Climate Conference in Paris; the
Paris Agreement and the COP Decisions
The Agreement is a Land Mark outcome, a culmination of four years of
negotiations and consist of 29 articles
The Paris Agreement reflects a hybrid approach, blending bottom up
flexibility to achieve broad participation with top down rules to promote
accountability
The Agreement is a treaty under international law, but only certain parts of
it are legally binding while many others are voluntary
Among other things, the new treaty ends the strict differentiation between
developed and developing countries, which characterized earlier efforts
OUTCOMES FROM PARIS COP 21
Many provisions of the Paris Agreement establish common
commitments, while allowing
flexibility to accommodate
different national capacities and circumstances, either through
self- differentiation or operational rules, yet to be developed
It puts in place a common framework which commits all
countries to put forward their best efforts and to strengthen
them in the years ahead
It also requires all Parties to report regularly on their
emissions and implementation efforts, and undergo international
review
KEY PROVISIONS OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT
AND ACCOMPANYING COP DECISION
Reaffirms limiting global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees
Celsius while urging efforts to limit the same increase to 1.5 degrees
Establishes binding commitments for all parties to develop Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs), and to pursue domestic measures aimed
at achieving them
Commits all countries to report regularly on their emissions and on
"progress made in implementing and achieving their NDCs," and to
undergo international review
Commits all countries to submit new NDCs every five years, with the
expectation that they will represent a "progression above the previous
ones"
Reaffirms the binding commitments for developed countries under the
UNFCCC to support the efforts of developed countries
For the first time, the agreement also encourages developing countries to
make voluntary contributions
KEY PROVISIONS OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT
AND ACCOMPANYING COP DECISION
Extended the current goal of mobilizing 100 billion USD per year in
support by 2020 through 2025, with a new, higher goal to be set for the
period beyond 2025
Extend the mechanism to address "loss and damage" arising from
climate change, which will explicitly not provide a basis for any liability
or include compensation
Requires Parties, engaging in international emissions trading to avoid
double counting
Calls for a new mechanism, similar to the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol, enabling emission reductions in one
country to counted towards the NDC of another country
MITIGATION
On mitigation, the Paris Agreement set two long
term emission goals:
1.
peaking of emissions as soon as possible in the
second half of this century, and achieving
2.
carbon neutrality or decarbonization; expressed
as a balance between anthropogenic emissions by
source and removals by sinks
For individual country mitigation efforts, the Agreement
prescribes a set of binding procedural commitments to
"prepare, communicate and maintain" NDCs, to provide
information necessary for transparency and
communicate NDCs every five years
The Agreement commits countries to pursue domestic
measures with a view to achieving their NDCs
However, it does not make the implementation or
achievement of the NDC a binding obligation
The core mitigation commitments are common to all
parties, but there is some differentiation in the
expectations set; "Developed countries should
undertake absolute economy wide reduction targets
while developing countries are encouraged to move
towards economy wise targets over time"
Developing countries are to receive support to
implement their commitments
ADAPTATION
A major priority for many developing
countries was strengthening adaptation
under the UNFCCC
The Paris Agreement achieved this by by
making the following provisions:
 Establishing a global goal of enhancing
adaptive capacity, strengthening
resilience and reducing vulnerability to
climate change
 Requiring all Parties, as appropriate to
plan and implement adaptation actions
 Encouraging all parties to report on
their adaptation efforts and/or needs
 Committing enhanced adaptation
support for developing countries; and
 Including a review of adaptation
progress and of adequacy of
adaptation support, in the global stock
take to be undertaken every five years
FINANCE
As at other COPs, finance was a contentious
issue in Paris with developing countries seeking
assurances that financial support will be scaled
up and developed countries pushing for wealthier
developing countries to contribute as well
Both succeeded to some degree as the Paris
Agreement commits developed countries to
provide financial support for adaptation and
mitigation to developing countries (in continuation
of their existing obligations under the Convention)
Other Parties are encouraged to provide such
support voluntarily, "those willing to do so, as
opposed to those in a position to do so"
The COP decision extends the $100 billion a
year goal through 2025, and states that beyond
2025, the COP will set a new collective
quantified goal from the floor of the $100 billion
a year
Developed countries are committed to submit,
every two years, an indicative quantitative and
qualitative formation on future support, including,
as available, projects levels of public Finance
Other countries are encouraged to do so on a
voluntary basis and finance will also be included
in the global stock take
NEXT COP STEPS
i.
The Paris Agreement will be opened for signature on 22nd April 2016 at
the United Nations in New York
ii. In order to become a Party to the Agreement, a country will need to
express its formal consent through ratification, acceptance, approval or
accession
iii. The Agreement establishes a double trigger for entry into force by
requiring approval by at least 55 countries accounting for 55 percent of
global greenhouse gas emissions
iv. If Parties ratify quickly, these conditions could be met allowing the COP to
meet for the first time as Meeting of Parties to the Paris Agreement in
2020
v. In the interim, pending entry into force for the Agreement, a new Ad Hoc
Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) has been established to
oversee putting in place rules and procedures, it will start meeting during
the May (16 to 26) in Bonn
vi. COP 22 will take place from November 7-22 in Marrakesh, Morocco
COP21: WHAT IS ICCS DOING?
Preparation of Investment
Plan beyond Zambia’s
NDC
Scale Up:
 Sustainable forestry,
Adaptation Actions
 Renewable energy
Enhance Engagement with the
Green Climate Fund (GCF),
World Bank, AfDB and
other Partners
THANK YOU