UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn (COP 23), November 2017

The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany concluded on 18 November 2017. The conference, which convened under the Presidency of Fiji, included the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UNFCCC, the 13th session of the COP serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 13), and the second part of the first session of the serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1-2).

The conference brought together over 16,000 participants and adopted 31 decisions that:

·      provide guidance on the completion of the Paris Agreement work programme;

·      launch the Talanoa Dialogue (the Fijian name for the 2018 facilitative dialogue);

·      give prominence to pre-2020 implementation and ambition, under the ‘Fiji Momentum for Implementation;’

·      operationalize the local communities and indigenous people’s platform;

·      establish a gender action plan;

·      decide that the Adaptation Fund shall serve the Paris Agreement;

·      take work forward on long-term finance; and

·      give guidance to the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (WIM).

The two goals set for the COP by the Fijian Presidency were met:

·      Advancing work on the Paris Agreement implementation guidelines, and

·      Agreeing on the design of the Talanoa Dialogue, named after a Pacific storytelling tradition that fosters empathy and trust.

Some of the more significant outcomes and decisions of COP 23:

The COP adopted a decision on the ‘Fiji Momentum for Implementation’ that:

·      sets the stage for negotiations in 2018 in a transparent, inclusive and cost-effective manner;

·      contains the design of the 2018 facilitative dialogue; and

·      outlines the importance of pre-2020 implementation and action.

The COP also adopted a decision on long-term finance, which:

·      requests developed countries to prepare their next round of updated biennial submissions on strategies and approaches for scaling up climate finance for 2018-2020;

·      requests the Secretariat to explore ways and means to assist developing countries in assessing their needs and priorities;

·      requests the Secretariat to organize a 2018 in-session workshop and prepare a summary report for consideration by COP 24; and

·      invites the COP Presidency, in organizing the 2018 high-level ministerial dialogue, to consider focusing on the topic of access to climate finance.

On gender, the COP agreed to, inter alia:

·      adopt a gender action plan;

·      request the Secretariat to prepare for November 2019, a synthesis report on implementation of the gender action plan; and

·      review implementation of the action plan at COP 25.

The local communities and indigenous people’s platform was operationalized.

International Solar Alliance Enters into Force

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), a group of 121 solar resource rich countries, formally entered into force and acquired the status of an international organization on December 6, 2017.

The Alliance, which is headquartered in Gurugram, India, aims to deploy over 1000 GW of solar energy and mobilise more than USD 1000 billion into solar power by 2030, facilitating and accelerating the large-scale deployment of solar energy in developing countries in order to meet soaring energy demand and help fight climate change.

The initiative – launched at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande – has so far been ratified by 19 member countries. The announcement that it is now an international organization came shortly before the 2nd anniversary of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the One Planet Summit on December 12, 2017, in Paris.

“I welcome the achievement today by the International Solar Alliance of status as an international organization. The framework agreement defining its statutes has been signed by 46 countries and ratified by 19 of them. This progress is in line with the efforts to combat climate change, which will be central to the One Planet Summit in Paris,” Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said.

The central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement is to limit the rise of global average temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees. Accelerating the transition towards the low carbon economy and boosting investments into building infrastructure for renewable energy, notably solar power, is critical to achieve the Paris goals.

Marking the occasion of the agreement entering into force, the Interim Director General of the International Solar Alliance Upendra Tripathy underscored the importance of the 2015 Paris Declaration on the ISA which aims to bring clean, affordable and renewable energy within the reach of all and to ensure promotion of green, clean and sustainable energy.

The ISA Declaration at the Paris Summit recognized that sustainable development, universal energy access and energy security are critical to the shared prosperity and future of the planet, acknowledging the need for clean and renewable energy to be made affordable for all.

To make solar energy affordable for the poor, the ISA stresses the importance of channelizing capital, reducing costs through financial mechanisms, promoting universal energy access and helping the creation of common standards to ensure proper quality of products use by member countries.

The framework agreement has been ratified by 19 countries including India, France, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, Fiji, France, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan and Tuvalu.