The CCXG Global Forum, held on 17-18 March at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris, brought together technical negotiators and experts from both OECD and non-OECD countries to discuss specific topics relevant to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations. It aimed to facilitate an informal sharing of views through focussed discussions on technical issues in the current negotiations, including on adaptation, climate support, review processes for mitigation, and long-term signals provided within a climate agreement. In each breakout session, the major elements emerging from the discussions were summarised, along with areas of convergence and non-convergence where possible.
Meeting documents
Agenda, presentations and final list of participants
DAY 1 - 17 MARCH 2015
9:30 –09:40 - Welcoming remarks and COP 20 key takeaways
9:40 –11:00 - Opening Plenary: Path to COP 21- Taking stock of key decisions points
Focus: Current mitigation pledges and contributions are not consistent with a cost-effective global emissions pathway towards the internationally-agreed goal of limiting temperature rises to less than 2°C. To be successful, the 2015 agreement will need to set a framework that encourages more ambitious mitigation, as well as enhanced adaptation. This session focused on what leads to countries enacting and implementing the ambitious climate policies, and what provisions in the 2015 climate agreement could help make this happen.
Speakers
11:30 – 13:00 - Plenary: Aligning policies for the transition to a low-carbon economy (APT)
Focus: The OECD-IEA-ITF-NEA project on Aligning Policies for the Transition to a low-carbon economy aims to identify policy misalignments that hamper the effectiveness of low-carbon policies. It broadens the scope of climate policy analysis to portfolios that are not traditionally at the core of climate action, to indicate how to enhance the responsiveness of economies to climate policy while addressing other important structural challenges. This work will be presented at the OECD Ministerial in June 2015, as one of the contributions in support of COP21.
Speakers
14:30 – 18:00 - Breakout Group 1: Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) Room CC 12
Focus: Discussed two areas related to NDCs which are important to clarify as part of the 2015 agreement. The first session examined proposals in the Geneva negotiating text related to the “strategic review” of mitigation NDCs, and discussed how these could be operationalised to enhance ambition. The second session focused on accounting for international carbon market transfers for different types of NDCs.
Background document: “Strategic review: Implications of proposals to date for mitigatin contributions”, by Sara Moarif
Co-facilitators: Ngedikes Olai Uludong, AOSIS; and Peter Betts, UK
| 14:30 – 16:00 - Part I | 16:30 – 18:00 - Part 2 |
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• Sara Moarif, OECD |
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14:30 – 18:00 - Breakout Group A: Adaptation in the 2015 agreement: implications of proposals to date
Focus: Discussed two areas related to adaptation in the 2015 Agreement. The goal is to explore how the 2015 Agreement can help to foster enhanced policies and co-ordinated planning for greater resilience and adaptation capabilities at the national level. The first session examined what types of adaptation programmes have worked on the national and local levels and how it verification that they are successful adaptation efforts takes place. The second session focused on the most feasible aims for adaptation in the 2015 Agreement and the best ways to achieve identified objectives.
Background documents
• “The role of the 2015 agreement in enhancing adaptation to climate change”, by Jennifer Helgeson and Jane Ellis
• “The role of the 2015 agreement to further advance adaptation action to climate change”, by Irene Suárez Pérez (Progresum)
Co-facilitators: Xolisa Ngwadla, South Africa; and Marianne Karlsen, Norway
| 14:30 – 16:00 -- Part I | 16:30 – 18:00 -- Part 2 |
| • Jennifer Helgeson, OECD • Dawn Pierre-Nathoniel, St. Lucia • Stéphane Isoard, EEA • Ainun Nishat, BRAC University, Bangladesh |
• Jane Ellis, OECD • Irene Suarez, Progresum • Houssam Eddine Hamimid, Algeria |
DAY 2 - 18 March 2015
9:30 –11:00 - Plenary: Recognising actions of non-state actors
FOCUS: Range of initiatives currently taken by non-state (sub-national) actors and how the new agreement can further facilitate and enhance such actions and explored how these initiatives could be recognised pre- and post-2020 under the UNFCCC framework.
Speakers
11:30 –13:00 - Breakout Group 2: Role of the 2015 agreement in accelerating technology and capacity building
FOCUS: Whether and how certain proposals within the draft negotiating text for the 2015 agreement could accelerate capacity building and technology development for climate change mitigation and adaptation; and sharing information on how these processes have worked in the past. It also explored the links between technology, capacity building, and finance, and how such links might impact the provision of support within the UNFCCC framework.
Background document: “Assessing options to increase climate support”, by Jane Ellis, Sara Moarif, Yoko Nobuoka, Marta Pellegrino and Jennifer Helgeson
Co-facilitators: Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Democratic Republic of Congo; and Tomonori Sudo, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Speakers
11:30 – 13:00 - Breakout Group B: Enhancing pre-2020mitigation action in the energy sector
FOCUS: What more can be done within the UNFCCC process (in particular ADP workstream 2, but also through the 2015 climate agreement more generally) to accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy systems in the short term.
Background document: “Energy Sector Transformation: Issues and Options for the UNFCCC Negotiations”, by Christina Hood and Gregory Briner
Co-facilitators: Gilberto Arias, Advisor to Marshall Islands; and Sarah Kuen, Belgium
Speakers
Breakout Group 3: Role of the 2015 agreement in accelerating technology and capacity building
FOCUS: Examining proposals in the Geneva negotiating text related to climate finance and explore how these could mobilise finance for mitigation and adaptation in the UNFCCC context; and considering pros and cons of these proposals regarding their effectiveness in meeting their objectives, whether they would fill a current gap, and the ease with which they could be monitored.
Background document: “Assessing options to increase climate support”, by Jane Ellis, Sara Moarif, Yoko Nobuoka, Marta Pellegrino and Jennifer Helgeson
Co-facilitators: Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Democratic Republic of Congo; and Tomonori Sudo, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Speakers
14:30 – 16:30 - Breakout Group C: Long-term signals for mitigation action
FOCUS: How the 2015 agreement can provide clear long-term signals to investors (particularly in the energy sector), through long-term targets, review cycles.
Background document: “Energy Sector Transformation: Issues and Options for the UNFCCC Negotiations”, by Christina Hood and Gregory Briner
Co-facilitators: Gilberto Arias, Advisor to Marshall Islands; and Sarah Kuen, Belgium
Speakers
Closing Plenary: Reflections on the discussions in the breakout groups, and implications for future CCXG work
Speakers
Find out more about the work of the Climate Change Expert Group (CCXG)
Documents connexes