Paris Climate Change Conference - November 2015 (UNFCCC COP 21)

Following intensive overnight consultations and bilaterals, the Comité de Paris reconvened at 11:51am for the presentation of the new draft Paris outcome.

COP 21 President announced that after extensive consultations a draft final Paris outcome had been prepared, telling parties "the world is holding its breath, it counts on all of us." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on parties to have the courage to grasp this opportunity. President François Hollande said "France calls upon you to adopt the first universal agreement on climate," stressing delegates "have the opportunity to change the world."

After giving delegations time to review the text, at 7:16pm the Comité de Paris commenced. The Comité heard the report of the legal committee and the Secretariat presented a list of technical corrections to the text. The Comité then forwarded the text to COP 21. COP 21 convened and at 7:29pm COP 21 adopted the Paris Agreement and associated decision (FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev.1). The floor was then opened for statements on the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

COP 21 closed at 12:28am and CMP 11 closed at 12:33am, after considering their final agenda items.

On Friday, 11 December, the “indaba of solutions” continued from Thursday night into the early morning, with parties working, in particular, on sections of the text related to ambition, finance and differentiation. When persistent differences arose during the indaba, interested parties were asked to consult to seek solutions and report back to the indaba in 30-45 minutes.

In the morning, the COP 21 Presidency announced that a new version of the draft Paris outcome, based on the indaba, would be released during the 6th meeting of the Comité de Paris at 9:00am Saturday, 12 December. COP 21 President Laurent Fabius undertook intensive consultations with groups and parties throughout the day. Parties also continued to work in bilaterals, including at the highest-levels, to build compromise language around the key outstanding issues.

On Thursday, 10 December, negotiations continued on the draft Paris outcome. Following all night consultations, parties met informally in the afternoon.

The open-ended group of legal and linguistic experts conducting the review of the paragraphs of the draft agreement forwarded by the Comité de Paris also met in the afternoon.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) plenary considered agenda items and adopted decisions on organizational matters, matters related to finance and the reports of the subsidiary bodies, capacity building, the Adaptation Committee, and the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), among other items.

Also in the afternoon, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) plenary considered agenda items and adopted decisions, including on: organizational matters; issues related to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI); and the report of the high-level ministerial on increased ambition of Kyoto Protocol commitments.

A revised draft Paris outcome text was presented in the Comité de Paris at 9:00pm, which then closed to allow for consultations by parties. An “indaba of solutions” then convened throughout the night to address all remaining unresolved items in the text.

On Wednesday, 9 December, negotiations advanced under the COP Presidency on the draft Paris outcome. At 3:00pm the Comité de Paris convened for the presentation of a revised version of the draft Paris outcome. The session was then immediately closed to allow for parties to review and consult on the text. At 8:00pm the Comité reconvened to hear parties’ first impressions on the text.

Negotiations continued throughout the night in two parallel informal consultations, the first being an indaba addressing differentiation, finance and ambition, facilitated by COP 21 President Laurent Fabius, and the second a consultation on loss and damage, cooperative approaches and mechanisms, preamble and forests, facilitated by COP 20 President Manuel Pulgar-Vidal (Peru).

Contact groups and informal consultations continued throughout the day under the COP and CMP to finalize decisions on their agenda items.

On Tuesday, 8 December, the joint Conference of the Parties (COP)/Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) high-level segment continued throughout the day, with statements by ministers and other heads of delegation.

Under the COP Presidency, negotiations advanced on the draft Paris Outcome in various settings, with minister-led informal consultations, bilaterals and party-led breakout groups under the Comité de Paris, convening throughout the day on: support: means of implementation (MOI) (finance, technology and capacity building); acceleration of pre-2020 action (workstream 2, excluding pre-2020 finance); adaptation, and loss and damage; and differentiation, in particular with regard to mitigation, finance and transparency; ambition, including long-term goals and periodic review; facilitating implementation and compliance; preamble; forests; cooperative mechanisms; and response measures.

Informal consultations and contact groups continued throughout the day under the COP and CMP to finalize decisions on their agenda items.

On Monday, 7 December, the joint Conference of the Parties (COP)/Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) high-level segment convened throughout the day. A contact group on Joint Implemenation (JI) met under the CMP. In the morning and afternoon, minister-led informal consultations under the Paris Committee addressed “support: means of implementation (MOI) (finance, technology and capacity building),” and facilitators conducted bilaterals on: acceleration of pre-2020 action; ambition, including long-term goals and periodic review; differentiation, in particular with regard to mitigation, finance and transparency; and support: MOI (finance, technology and capacity building). In the evening, the Paris Committee convened.

On Saturday, 5 December, the 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12) contact group convened in the morning, followed by the ADP closing plenary, which adopted its conclusions and forwarded a draft agreement and decision to the Conference of the Parties (COP) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP met in the evening to hear the report of the ADP and decide on the mode of work going forward.

Informal consultations under the COP and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) continued throughout the day.

On Friday, 4 December, the 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12) contact group considered a revised compilation text throughout the day. In the morning and afternoon, informal consultations and contact groups finalized work under the Subsidiary Bodies (SBs), and a contact group under the Conference of the Parties (COP) took place.

The Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) closing plenaries took place in the evening, with the SBI closing at 9:23pm and the SBSTA closing at 10:26pm.

On Thursday, 3 December, the 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12) contact group continued consideration of the negotiating text of the agreement and associated decisions. The contact group took stock of progress in the evening. Spin-off groups and informal informals under the ADP addressed: preamble and purpose/general; mitigation; adaptation, and loss and damage; finance; technology development and transfer; capacity building; transparency; global stocktake; implementation and compliance, and final clauses; and workstream 2.

Contact groups and informal consultations continued throughout the day under the Conference of the Parties (COP), the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

On Wednesday, 2 December, the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 11) convened in plenary to continue opening agenda items. Under the the 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12), the contact group continued throughout the day, taking stock of progress in the evening. Spin-off groups and informal informals convened on: purpose; mitigation; adaptation; finance; technology development and transfer; capacity building; transparency; global stocktake; implementation and compliance and final clauses; and workstream 2.

Contact groups and informal consultations under the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) convened throughout the day.

On Tuesday, 1 December, in the morning the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 11) convened in plenary to adopt their agendas and mode of work, and hear opening statements. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) opening plenary met in the morning and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) opening plenary convened in the afternoon. In the afternoon and evening, contact groups and informal consultations convened under the SBI and SBSTA. The third working group session of the Multilateral Assessment under the SBI convened in the evening.

In the morning, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) contact group commenced work and continued to meet throughout the day. ADP spin-off groups and 'informal informals' were held throughout the day on: preamble, purpose and general; adaptation; mitigation; finance; technology development and transfer; capacity building; the global stocktake; transparency; and workstream 2.

On Monday, 30 November, in the morning, the opening of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place. The Leaders Event commenced with an opening session followed by two parallel sessions in the morning, afternoon and evening to hear statements by heads of state and government.

In the evening, spin-off groups under the 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12) took place on: preamble, purpose (Article 2) and general (Article 2bis); technology development and transfer (Article 7); capacity building (Article 8); implementation and compliance (Article 11), the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement (CMA) (Article 12) and final clauses (Articles 13-26); and workstream 2.

The 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12) convened a day early. In the evening of Sunday, 29 November, the opening session of the ADP took place in order to allow technical negotiations to commence promptly on Monday, 30 November. The opening plenary agreed to the establishment of an open-ended contact group, to review the status of work, and spin-off groups for time-bound and specific negotiations of the sections of the negotiating text.