Scenarios and Sticking Points under the Durban Platform: The long and winding road to 2020
Given the outcomes of COP 17 in Durban, South Africa, and subsequent negotiating sessions in Bonn and Bangkok in 2012, achieving "success" under the newly formed Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) is proving to be a formidable task. Nonetheless, Parties have begun to envision a future where all major emitters may be under the same "mitigation tent."
In advance of COP 18 in Doha, this commentary provides an overview of the current state of play within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, including an overview of the most recent round of negotiations in Bangkok (August 30-September 5, 2012). It then explores four scenarios, or potential outcomes, under the Durban Platform, and what each would mean in the context of reaching a new, inclusive and effective international climate change agreement.
The analysis concludes that for COP 18 to be considered a success, negotiators must tangentially balance cautious progress under the ADP with outcomes under the other negotiating tracks. Rushing outcomes prematurely under the ADP could risk years of progress made elsewhere, yet leaving the ADP fully at the behest of the other tracks could lead to the full entrenchment of the same old divisions in this new venue for negotiations.
You might also be interested in
The State of Global Environmental Governance 2023
In global environmental talks in 2023, the focus across nearly all issue areas was funding implementation and reviewing performance.
National State of the Environment Report: Uzbekistan
The National State of the Environment Report (NSoER) is a comprehensive document that provides a snapshot of current environmental trends in Uzbekistan's socio-economic development for citizens, experts, and policy-makers in the country of Uzbekistan.
IISD: EU’s Historic Energy Charter Treaty Vote Will Boost Energy Transition
The European Parliament has voted for the European Union to withdraw from the climate-threatening Energy Charter Treaty.
Why Blaine Higgs's 'big picture' emissions plan faces long odds
Canadian premier's vision of selling LNG to Europe to close coal plants faces local and global obstacles.