UN climate change negotiations to take place

PRESS RELEASE: First round of formal UN climate change negotiations to take place in April in Bonn, Germany

http://unfccc.int/files/press/news_room/press_releases_and_advisories/application/pdf/pr_20100222_april_mtg.pdf

(Bonn, 23 February 2010) – The next round of formal UN climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is scheduled to take place in April in Bonn, Germany. The meeting will be held from Friday, 9 April through Sunday, 11 April 2010 at the Hotel Maritim in Bonn, Germany.

The decision was taken 22 February by the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC at its first meeting of the year at the UN Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn. The 11-member Bureau, which represents the five regional UN groups, is responsible for advising the President of the Conference of the Parties and for taking decisions with regard to the overall management of the intergovernmental process.

In addition to the gathering in April, two major negotiating sessions are currently scheduled for 2010: the 32nd session of the UNFCCC Convention subsidiary bodies from 31 May to 11 June 2010 and the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16)/6th Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 6) in Mexico from 29 November to 10 December 2010.

"Following the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, this constitutes a quick return to the negotiations," said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer. "The decision to intensify the negotiating schedule underlines the commitment by governments to move the negotiations forward towards success in Cancun," the UN’s top climate change official said. "This is further strengthened by the fact that the number of countries that have written to the secretariat with their country communications since Copenhagen has now exceeded a landmark one hundred," he added.

Forty developed country Parties have so far submitted to the secretariat information on their 2020 emission cut targets, with various base years. These Parties represent around 90% of emissions from this group of Parties.

Thirty developing country Parties have also communicated information on their mitigation plans.

In addition, another thirty-nine Parties have provided additional information regarding the Accord.

Together, all these countries represent well over 80% of global energy emissions.

The mid-term targets of industrialised countries to cut emissions are listed at: http://unfccc.int/home/items/5264.php

The nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries are listed at:

Additional information provided by Parties to the Convention relating to the Copenhagen Accord can be found at: http://unfccc.int/meetings/items/5276.php

About the UNFCCC

With 194 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 190 of the UNFCCC Parties. Under the Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

UNFCCC media office: http://unfccc.int/press/items/2794.php

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