Brussels, 01/06/2015 (Agence Europe) -The experts from the 196 parties, including those from the European Union and its member states, meeting up in Bonn (1 - 11 June) are hoping to get to grips with the preparations for the UN climate conference in Paris (COP 21, 30 November-11 December), where they are seeking to conclude a global and legally binding post-2020 climate agreement.
This preparatory conference will be decisive on the results that are to be obtained in Paris and the EU is expecting major efforts to reduce the length of the negotiating text and increase the chances of achieving success in Paris.
The EU is hoping for a convergence of the options identified in the main sections of the negotiating text (adaptation, finance, technology, capacity development, transparency of actions and support) during the Geneva conference in February.
Speaking on Twitter on Monday 1 June, the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, said: “Climate talks start today. Our goals: a shorter negotiating text and progress on main outstanding issues”.
Time is running out because so far, just 37 countries have sent the UN their intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) to the new agreement. Many offers will be submitted in the summer and October, so as to enable the UNFCC to produce its aggregate report.
At the end of the EU/Japan Summit on Friday 29 May, Cañete said: “Japan will submit its climate contribution expeditiously. We call on all others to do the same soon”. He was confident that the Japanese offer would be known before the G-7 summit (Elmau, Germany, 7 and 8 May).
The Bonn conference will also be an opportunity for countries to share experiences on the preparation of their intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) to the new agreement. The EU was the first major economy to submit its contribution in early March - a domestic emissions reduction target of at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels to at least 27% in energy efficiency - and seeks to actively engage in these exchanges to help move the process forward.
The Bonn conference will also continue work on efforts to step up international climate action before 2020 to narrow the emissions gap that exists between current pledges and the below 2°C objective and therefore avoid dramatic global warming. The US president, Barack Obama, himself, said on 20 May last that, “climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security”.
It should be pointed out that the EU is eager for the Paris conference to produce a fair, ambitious and legally binding commitment for all the different parties and that this enables the world to go forward to obtaining the 2°C target. (Aminata Niang)