Nusa Dua, Indonesia (Platts)--17Dec2007
The UNFCCC climate change talks ended Saturday afternoon after delegates
from over 180 nations finally agreed on a negotiating mandate, the so-called
Bali Action Plan. The Plan will govern climate change talks, held by the
UNFCCC over the next two years.
These negotiations are intended to result in the signing, at the UNFCCC
meeting in December 2009, of a global climate change action plan that will go
into effect in 2013, when the provisions of the current Kyoto Protocol expire.
There will be four meetings in 2008 to pursue these negotiations, with
the first to be held in March or April.
The talks will cover:
-- Efforts by developed countries to take "Measurable, reportable and
verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation commitments or actions, including
quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives, by all developed
country Parties, while ensuring the comparability of efforts among them,
taking into account differences in their national circumstances."
-- Efforts by developing countries to take "Measurable, reportable and
verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country
Parties in the context of sustainable development, supported by technology and
enabled by financing and capacity-building."
-- The Action Plan does not specify any clear emissions reduction goal.
But in a footnote in the preamble, it refers indirectly to scenarios modelled
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which include a goal of
halving global emissions by 2050, compared with the level for 2000. Under this
scenario, rich countries would have to cut their emissions by 25-40% from 1990
levels by 2020.
-- As well as emission reduction efforts, the talks will cover: action
for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change, such as droughts
and floods; ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; ways to widely deploy
climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation
measures.
The Plan will also see discussion on possible financial support to halt
deforestation and forest degradation, which account for roughly a fifth of
global greenhouse gas emissions today.
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