Highlights and images for 14 June 2021

As the third week of negotiations began, delegates discussed the contribution of Indigenous and local knowledge to address climate impacts (Photo by Kiara Worth).

The May-June 2021 UN Climate Change Conference opened its third and last week of virtual discussions to prepare for the 26th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) in Glasgow, Scotland, scheduled for November 2021.

Delegates engaged in informal consultations on research and systematic observation, the second periodic review of the long-term global goal under the Convention, and budgetary matters. A Heads of Delegation meeting took place on matters relating to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (market and non-market approaches). In addition, the presiding officers held an informal dialogue with the constituted bodies and a workshop of the facilitative sharing of views took place.

Research and Systematic Observation

In this second session of informal consultations on this item, parties discussed a draft informal note prepared by the Co-Facilitators. Many said the note provided a good basis for future work. Suggested additions included:

challenges faced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic;
sub-regional needs, including those of Caribbean states, least developed countries in the African region, and states in high mountainous areas;
requesting information related to equity and climate justice; and
increasing the participation and representation of experts from developing countries.

On the IPCC's ongoing work on its Sixth Assessment Report, one party suggested “welcoming” rather than “acknowledging” this work, while another pointed to “inevitable gaps” in multilateral assessments and urged keeping the IPCC's role in perspective. Views diverged on whether to remove five bullet points of the informal note related to the 12th and 13th meetings of the Research Dialogue and the Earth Information Day 2020.

Elizabeth Bush, Canada, and Ladislaus Changa, Tanzania, Co-Fac for research and systematic observation

Elizabeth Bush, Canada, and Ladislaus Chang'a, Tanzania, Co-Facilitators for research and systematic observation

Second periodic review of the long-term global goal under the Convention

In this second session of informal consultations under this item, parties reflected on a draft informal note prepared by the Co-Facilitators. Many welcomed the note as a good basis for further discussions.

Disagreement centred around a bullet point on the roundtable on pre-2020 implementation and ambition that took place at COP 25, with two developing country groups stressing the pre-2020 work is an ongoing process and the summary report “is serving,” rather than “served,” as an input for the second session of the first meeting of the structured expert dialogue under the second periodic review. Delegates also considered whether and how to refer to the scope of the second periodic review.