Summary
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!”
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the Bangkok Climate Change Conference - September 2018. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has publish a summary and analysis report from the Conference.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Informal Consultations throughout the Day
APA Contact Group
Delegates discuss the draft text
Joint Closing Plenary of APA, SBI and SBSTA
Around the Venue
