The 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention is being held in our neighboring country, Peru. CEBDS has already arrived at the Conference and will be recording the main events in the coming days, as it follows the official discussions on the negotiations of the new climate agreement under the Convention and the events taking place in parallel, mainly related to issues of interest to the private sector.
Progress at this COP is of great importance for a successful agreement in Paris next year. But what can we expect as a result of these two weeks of negotiations? The expectations for this COP are (i) definition of the text of the elements that will make up the new 2015 Agreement, elements defined at COP17 in Durban, namely: mitigation, adaptation, financing, technology development and transfer, transparency and capacity building; (ii) definition of the information required for the presentation of Nationally Determined Contributions (or NDCs); and (iii) progress on the most ambitious pre-2020 commitments.
Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, the new agreement will go beyond commitments related to mitigation, and it is necessary to define how these new elements will be included in the new agreement. This is what is expected in Lima so that, starting in February 2015, discussions can begin on the draft of the new agreement, that is, the definition of the other articles that will make up the new legal commitment on climate. Defining how these elements will be included in the new agreement is important and necessary for the preparation of these NDCs, that is, the commitments in terms of emission reductions that must be submitted by all countries in March 2015.
Progress in the negotiations is extremely necessary. This is because the commitments made to date are not sufficient to limit the increase in temperature to 2°C, the target set at COP16 in Cancun. With the current commitments made by countries, it is estimated that the increase in average temperature expected by the end of this century will be greater than 3°C, which would subject humanity to much greater risks, especially the poorest countries. This is because although the absolute increase in expected temperature is greater at higher altitudes, it will be in the tropics that it will reach levels that are unbearable for human life.
But the important message is that there is still time to act to limit the temperature increase to 2°C and this is a global challenge and will depend on cooperation between Governments, the Private Sector and Civil Society.
See you later!
