Negotiators from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Bangkok this week through Sunday to iron out sticky issues ahead of year-end talks in Katowice, Poland. This week’s talks focus on technical issues in three subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA).
The talks are designed to forge consensus on how to measure emission reductions within the Paris Agreement, so that the Katowice talks can then focus more clearly on ratcheting up ambition.
At the resumed session, negotiators from some 190 countries will focus on developing the implementation guidelines of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The guidelines are needed to provide guidance on how to implement the agreement and to see transparently how countries are progressing in their actions.
Fijian Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, who is still serving as President of the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UNFCCC until December, opened the ceremony.
“In these few days in Bangkok, we will have an opportunity to put the Paris Agreement on the path from words to action—to make it fully operational—and in doing so to build a springboard for the urgent additional climate action we need,” he said.
All speakers strongly urged negotiators to step up the pace of their work and to move towards negotiating texts that capture clear options on the implementation guidelines that can swiftly be finalised and adopted in Katowice.
To view the full opening ceremony, visit here.
For more information on the Bangkok Climate Change Conference, visit here.
This story was published with permission from Ecosystem Marketplace.
