COP21 Day 6: Gearing Up for Week Two

As I mentioned at the end of my post on Day 5, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) held its closing plenary session on Saturday morning. This plenary session marked the official transmission of the draft agreement and decision to ministers (under what is being called the “Comité de Paris” – Paris Committee).

Delegations get ready for the closing ADP plenary session.

Saturday also was “Action Day” for COP21. Started in last year’s COP in Lima, Peru, Action Day consists of a series of high-level panel events around themes key to that year’s conference. The panels are structured to highlight innovative climate change projects and include calls for action from a range of public and private sector climate change activists. Action Day programing started after Saturday’s closing ADP plenary session so delegations could attend. For me, this seems like quite a clever way to have negotiators take a step back after a very intense week and remember the bigger picture of why they are in Paris battling over brackets and options.

Hollande making his closing remarks at the COP21 Action Day

The negotiations resumed this morning, and informal consultations will be divided into four thematic groups:

1. Means of implementation (finance, technology, capacity building)
2. Differentiation (in particular with regard to mitigation, finance, transparency)
3. Ambition (including long-term goals and periodic review)
4. Acceleration of pre-2020 Action

As things have now kicked to a higher – and more informal – level of discussions, I am not going to be able to sit in on these consultations. I will, however, get to follow the plenary sessions that wrap up each day of negotiations. These sessions will be transmitted live on the UFCCC website, so you can also follow along!

Ministers and negotiators have a very tight schedule this week. The agreement has to be submitted by Thursday at the latest for final legal revisions and translation. The COP Presidency is, therefore, aiming to have a first complete version of the final agreement by Wednesday.

To follow the Comité de Paris plenary sessions, see: http://unfccc6.meta-fusion.com/cop21/ 

To read the draft agreement and decision texts submitted to the Comité de Paris, see: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/adp2/eng/11infnot.pdf 

For more on the organization and structure of the Comité de Paris, see: http://unfccc.int/meetings/paris_nov_2015/in-session/items/9320.php