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Summary Highlights: 4 - 9 September 2018

Highlights for Sunday, 9 September 2018

The Bangkok Climate Change Conference closed on Sunday, 9 September, with negotiators concluding this session's work to advance the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP) — the details required to operationalize the 2015 Paris Agreement. The PAWP is scheduled for adoption at the Katowice Climate Change Conference (COP 24) in December 2018. This is widely considered a challenging task. At the beginning of their week in Bangkok, COP 23 President Frank Bainimarama warned countries that “frankly, we are not ready for Katowice.”

Following the conclusion of informal consultations in the morning, the contact group of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) met in the early afternoon. After some debate on how to reflect possible additional matters for the PAWP to address, the group adopted its draft conclusions.

Closing plenaries of the APA, the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) convened in the afternoon, with each body adopting identical conclusions. Parties made “uneven” progress across the different agenda items. Outcomes under PAWP negotiating items are captured in the annexes to their conclusions as “the Bangkok outcome,” as well as in a 307-page “PAWP compilation.”

In their conclusions, the APA, SBI, and SBSTA agree on a way to progress work intersessionally, notably that:

• their Presiding Officers should prepare a joint reflections note addressing progress made at this session, and identifying ways forward, “including textual proposals,” to help advance parties’ deliberations towards the PAWP; and
• the purpose of this joint note is to address all PAWP matters so as to ensure their “balanced and coordinated” consideration and facilitate successful completion of the PAWP at COP 24.

The note is due by mid-October 2018 in order to inform political discussions scheduled for the “pre-COP” meeting from 24-27 October 2018 in Krakow, Poland.

The Conference was gaveled to a close at 7:57 pm following a joint APA-SBI-SBSTA plenary to hear country and observer statements. APA Co-Chair Tyndall declared: “Katowice, here we come!”

Highlights for Saturday, 8 September 2018

On Saturday, the Bangkok Climate Change Conference continued for its penultimate day of negotiations on the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP). Countries discussed issues related to, inter alia:

• common timeframes for nationally determined contributions (NDCs);
• market and non-market approaches;
• accounting of financial resources;
• response measures;
• adaptation communication;
• the Adaptation Fund;
• possible additional PAWP items;
• the global stocktake; and
• implementation and compliance.

In the afternoon, heads of delegation met with the presiding officers of 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). A briefing by the Incoming COP Presidency on preparations and arrangements for COP 24 in Poland also took place.

Negotiations are scheduled to continue and conclude on Sunday.

Highlights for Friday, 7 September 2018

On Friday, negotiators at the Bangkok Climate Change Conference continued their consideration of the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP). Contact groups and informal consultations met throughout the day to discuss issues related to:

• technology;
• market and non-market approaches;
• guidance for adaptation communication;
• guidance for nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in the context of mitigation;
• predictability and accounting of finance;
• transparency;
• implementation and compliance;
• the global stocktake; and
• possible additional PAWP items.

A joint meeting of the informal consultations on the registry or registries for NDCs and adaptation communication convened in the afternoon. Informal consultations on mitigation continued late into the evening.

Negotiations will continue on Saturday.

Highlights for Thursday, 6 September 2018

On Thursday, negotiations on the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP) continued in Bangkok, including on issues related to:

• predictability and accounting of finance;
• guidance and public registry for NDCs;
• market and non-market approaches;
• technology;
• transparency; and
• the global stocktake.

In the afternoon, a stocktaking meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) took place, as well as a joint stocktake of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), and APA.

Negotiations will continue on Friday.