European Union

Delegates gather for the start of the Bangkok Climate Change Conference Following an opening ceremony, parties at the Bangkok Climate Change Conference focused on establishing negotiating groups to continue their work on the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP). Plenary meetings of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) made good progress, with each body launching its work without major disagreements. In the afternoon, several of the negotiating groups held their first meetings and started substantive negotiations on various issues, including on: Accounting of financial resources provided through public interventions under Agreement Article 9.7; Matters related to Article 6 (market and non-market approaches); Common timeframes for nationally determined contributions (NDCs); The public registry referred to in Agreement Article 7.12 (adaptation communication); The public registry referred to in Agreement Article 4.12 (NDC registry); Further guidance in relation to the adaptation communication; The committee to facilitate implementation and promote compliance; and Further matters except the Adaptation Fund. Negotiations on several other items are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.For extensive details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin. 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 For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Opening Session View of the dais during the opening session UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa  Frank Bainimarama, COP 23 President Incoming COP 24 President Michał Kurtyka, Poland Kaveh Zahedi, Officer in Charge, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) Surasak Karnjanarat, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand Opening Sessions of SBI, SBSTA, and APA APA and SBI Co-Chairs consult informally on the dais SBI Chair Emmanuel Dlamini, eSwatini SBSTA Chair Paul Watkinson, France APA Co-Chairs Sarah Baashan, Saudi Arabia, and Jo Tyndall, New Zealand Abdullah Tawlah, Saudi Arabia Majid Shafie-Pour, Iran, speaking on behalf of the Like-minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) Informal Consultations throughout the Day SBSTA contact group on matters relating to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement SBSTA contact group on financial resources provided and mobilized through public interventions in accordance with Paris Agreement Article 9.7 SBI informal consultation on common timeframes for NDCs referred to in Article 4.10 of the Paris Agreement SBSTA informal consultations on the technology framework under Article 10.4 of the Paris Agreement Informal informal consultations on adaptation Civil Society Action Members of civil society demonstrate outside of UNESCAP, calling for an end to fossil fuels and for more progress to be made in the negotiations Around the Venue UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa speaks with Incoming COP 24 President Michał Kurtyka, Poland, before the start of the meeting Members of the UNFCCC Secretariat SBSTA Coordinator Wanna Tanunchaiwatana and SBSTA Chair Paul Watkinson, France UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa APA Co-Chairs Sarah Baashan, Saudi Arabia, and Jo Tyndall, New Zealand, speak with Sergey Kononov, APA Coordinator Delegates from the Russian Federation Annela Anger-Kraavi, Estonia, and Carlos Fuller, Belize Patrick Suckling, Australia Delegates from the EU consult informally Delegates from Brazil SBSTA Chair Paul Watkinson, France, consults with members of civil society Marcelo Theoto Rocha, Brazil, speaks with Alf Wills, South Africa Delegates consult between sessions Chen Zhihua, China; Ravi Prasad, India; and Xolisa Ngwadla, South Africa Delegates from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain Delegates from Togo, Angola, and Bhutan A delegate reads the Earth Negotiations Bulletin to keep up to date with the negotiations Delegates from Chile Delegates from the Maldives  

  IGC President Rena Lee, Singapore, opened the first session of the IGC The first session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) opened with general statements, focusing on: •    key features of the ILBI; •    priority issues to be addressed in the ILBI; and •    expectations concerning the process towards developing a zero draft.For extensive details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily reports and daily web coverage from BBNJ IGC 1. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has published a summary and analysis report from the meeting.   Photos by IISD/ENB | Francis Dejon For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Miguel de Serpa Soares, Secretary-General of the IGC, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel, on behalf of UN Secretary-General António Guterres IGC President Rena Lee, Singapore Gabriele Goettsche-Wanli, Director, UNDOALOS Mohamed Omar Gad, Egypt, on behalf of the G-77/China A view of the room of the IGC plenary from the dais Andreas Papaconstantinou, EU Ali Naseer Mohamed, Maldives, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States Mehdi Remaoun, Algeria, on behalf of the African Group Khurshed Alam, Bangladesh, on behalf of the Least Developed Countries Participants from civil society. Juliette Babb-Riley, Barbados, on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Olai Uludong, Palau Alain Tellier, Canada Alice Revell, New Zealand Dekalega Fintakpa Lamega, Togo Generoso Calonge, the Philippines Florian Botto, Monaco Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Holy See Delegates from Ecuador consulting Delegates from the Philippines Delegates from Spain L-R: Melanie Virtue, Convention on Migratory Species Secretariat and Jihyun Lee, Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat L-R: Yongsheng Cai and Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, International Seabed Authority, in a conversation with Khurshed Alam, Bangladesh  

L-R: BRS Deputy Executive Secretary Carlos Martin-Novella; BRS Executive Secretary Rolph Payet; and OEWG11 Co-Chairs Mohammed Khashashneh (Jordan) and Justina Grigaraviciene (Lithuania) The Eleventh Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (OEWG11) opened on Monday, 3 September 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland. The opening session adopted the agenda, agreed on the organization of work, and heard welcoming statements from the OEWG11 Co-Chairs and the Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, Rolph Payet.The morning session dealt with a number of strategic and technical issues. On strategic matters, the OEWG adopted its first decision, asking the Secretariat to finalize work on information related to the indicators to be used for the final evaluation of the Basel Convention’s Strategic Framework (2012-2021). In other matters, the OEWG: set up a Strategic Matters Contact Group to further discuss a series of draft practical manuals and guidances on issues such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) and environmentally sound management (ESM) in the informal sector; and set up a Technical Matters Contact Group to further discuss draft technical guidelines (TGs) on ESM of wastes consisting of, containing, or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs), a revised TG on transboundary movements of e-waste, and updated TGs on incineration on land and on specially engineered landfill. During the lunch break two side events were held, one on marine plastic litter and microplastics in the context of a circular economy and the other on the work to review the Basel Convention annexes.In the afternoon session, the OEWG decided to consider during its next biennium (2020-2021) whether to update TGs on hazardous waste physio-chemical treatment and biological treatment. The OEWG also: asked the Technical Matters Contact Group to develop a list of nominations for types of wastes for which practical guidance on the development of inventories would be useful. discussed wastes containing nanomaterials and possible future Basel Convention work on the issue, and referred the matter to the Technical Matter Contact Group for further deliberation; considered the outcomes of the Partnership on Household Wastes and held an initial airing of views on the way forward for further developing partnerships; and discussed a draft decision on cooperation with the World Customs Organization on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System. In the evening delegates attended a reception hosted by the Government of Switzerland, followed by meetings of the Technical Matters and Strategic Matters Contact Groups. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web updates from OEWG11 and will publish a summary and analysis report which is available in HTML and PDF. BRS Executive Secretary Rolph Payet welcomes OEWG11 delegates (photo courtesy of BRS Secretariat) Peter Wessman, EU (photo courtesy of BRS Secretariat) Francis Kihumba Njuguna, Kenya (photo courtesy of BRS Secretariat) Jorge Álvarez Álvarez, Cuba (photo courtesy of BRS Secretariat) A view of the room during the meeting (photo courtesy of BRS Secretariat)