{"id":8702,"date":"2015-12-07T11:57:05","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T09:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitedexplanations.org\/english\/?p=8702"},"modified":"2016-01-01T22:23:24","modified_gmt":"2016-01-01T20:23:24","slug":"1st-week-of-cop21-in-paris-what-has-happened-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedexplanations.org\/english\/2015\/12\/07\/1st-week-of-cop21-in-paris-what-has-happened-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"First week of COP21 in Paris: What has happened so far?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Sonia Garc\u00eda<\/a> and Anna P\u00e9rez<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From November 30th<\/sup>\u00a0to December 11th<\/sup>\u00a0Paris will host\u00a0COP21 (C<\/strong>onference o<\/strong>f the P<\/strong>arties), the 21st<\/sup> annual meeting of the\u00a0UNFCCC<\/a>\u00a0(U<\/strong>nited N<\/strong>ations F<\/strong>ramework C<\/strong>onvention on C<\/strong>limate C<\/strong>hange).<\/p>\n

But why is Paris so important, if there is a COP every year?<\/p>\n

Copenhagen, Durban\u2026 and the road to Paris<\/h3>\n

During COP17 in Durban, in 2011, the decision was taken to\u00a0create the ADP (Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action).<\/p>\n

\n

The mandate<\/a> of the ADP was to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties, to be completed no later than 2015 in order for it to be adopted at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties<\/strong>, and for it to come into effect and be implemented from 2020.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"COP21<\/a>

COP21 in Paris.<\/p><\/div>\n

Therefore, COP21 is the end of a long process started by COP17 in 2011, and it must\u00a0deliver the results assigned to it:\u00a0a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

Since 2011, the ADP has held a total of 15 meetings during which the future text to be approved as a new agreement in Paris was put together. But the path was not as easy as one might think.<\/p>\n

Until COP15 in Copenhagen (perhaps\u00a0the COP brought climate change issues into the public eye), leadership on climate change action was taken mostly by\u00a0the United Nations (with a predominantly\u00a0top-down approach).<\/p>\n

Greenhouse gas\u00a0reduction targets were calculated on a global scale and guidelines were defined in order to implement the reductions, taking into consideration historical\u00a0emissions by the world’s\u00a0states. The Kyoto Protocol<\/a> was an outcome of this top-down<\/strong> approach.<\/p>\n

During COP15 in Copenhagen the agreement scripted for signature\u00a0failed – due to a host of reasons, and with it the way the climate change issues had been\u00a0tackled\u00a0up to then. Many\u00a0countries felt\u00a0sensitivities were not treated equally. The countries asked for more country ownership of the processes – i.e., an approach at least partially determined\u00a0from the\u00a0bottom up<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After Copenhagen, the ADP became one of the key actors working on this bottom up approach to produce a new agreement. It\u00a0faced the challenge\u00a0of producing a text summing up all the national approaches, and at the last stages of the negotiations, it asked the UNFCCC secretariat and the ADP co-chairs to help compile the country’s inputs\u00a0in order to add them to\u00a0the multiple\u00a0versions of the future agreement to be adopted at COP21 in Paris.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0process could be considered a constant switch from bottom-up to top-down approaches, with the ghost of the failure in Copenhagen as a motivating factor in the search for success in Paris.<\/p>\n

What is being discussed in Paris?<\/h3>\n

The first week of the Paris Climate Conference was focused\u00a0mostly on closing the ADP working group. Having finished its mandate, this working group will now present its\u00a0text to the ministers, who will negotiate in order to reach\u00a0a final agreement.<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/a>

Image: Transition Network.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

One of the hot issues this week was\u00a0finance<\/strong>: it is still unclear how developed countries will provide finance to developing countries to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The paragraph of the text related to finance has not changed substantially since October, demonstrating how important and political this issue is.<\/p>\n

This is very much linked to one of the other difficult topics: differentiation<\/strong>. This concept\u00a0is designed to define which country\u00a0should start reducing emissions first, or faster, or who should provide more help through\u00a0finance. This historic debate asks developed countries to do more, since they bear\u00a0more responsibility\u00a0for\u00a0creating the climate crisis in the first place.<\/p>\n

There has also been a\u00a0very strong discussion about the 1.5\u00baC target<\/strong>. The idea is that global temperatures should not rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius if the current shape of\u00a0life on the planet is to be\u00a0preserved, and in order to avoid the most dangerous of catastrophes. Studies, however, find that 2 degrees is not enough, and state that a maximum increase of 1.5\u00baC will be necessary in order\u00a0to preserve low-lying islands and coastal areas. This more ambitious goal\u00a0is very controversial for some countries, whose emissions would have to drop faster in order to meet that goal.<\/p>\n

Human rights<\/strong> have also\u00a0featured\u00a0in the week’s highlights. They are included in the\u00a0<\/span>\u2018purpose\u2019 of the future Paris Agreement, t<\/span>ogether with labour rights, gender equality and the integrity of ecosystems. However, there have been attempts to remove this part of the paragraph, which has caused\u00a0alarms to sound among the collection of\u00a0NGOs and civil society participating in the negotiations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, one of the issues that has progressed the most this week is adaptation\u00a0<\/strong>to the effects of climate change. For\u00a0months now, there has been a push to include a Global Goal for Adaptation in the Paris Agreement. This Goal would define the general aim of adaptation, including enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change.<\/p>\n

The following\u00a0infographic by the Climate Trackers<\/a>\u00a0helps to understand some of the key issues in the text:<\/p>\n

\"ADP<\/a>

Infographic courtesy of ClimateTracker.org.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Today\u00a0the COP will receive the final text proposed by the ADP in order to adopt a new agreement. Ministers will negotiate all week in order to conclude\u00a0some of the ongoing\u00a0debates.<\/p>\n

Then, all eyes will be on\u00a0Paris, in order to find out\u00a0whether\u00a0we are building a new mechanism which will be\u00a0capable of\u00a0dealing with what could\u00a0be considered one of the biggest challenges humanity has faced so far.<\/p>\n

This is a non-profit explanation.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is Paris so important if there is a COP every year? What is being discussed in Paris? The progress of the negotiations brought to you by United Explanations from the core of the COP21.
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