Demistification.....

Towards a 2015 Agreement: Elements of the Durban Platform

By: Kennedy Mbeva

The current focus of the international climate change negotiations is on delivering a new climate agreement by 2015. This is due to the exacerbating effects of climate change, while efforts to tackle them are often deemed not sufficient.

However, with the flurry of discussions, workshops, conferences and studies going on, it is easy to lose track of the process. It is in this light that we will have a series of articles breaking down the nitty gritties of the negotiations towards a global climate agreement.

Setting the stage

The stage for working towards a global climate agreement was set at COP17 , in a package of decisions known as the Durban Platform. In essence, this package outlined four key areas that would form the roadmap for a global climate agreement by 2015, with the overarching term being ‘ambition’.  These are:

1. Global Review of the global temperature goal

There has been a raging debate as to whether the target of keeping global atmospheric temperatures, of 2 degrees, is appropriate. Thus a global review was proposed with the aim of using data and science so as to establish the appropriate temperature rise ceiling.

2. Launch of a new track of negotiations

At COP17, it was deemed that a new subsidiary body was needed in order to iron out the details of the new global climate agreement by 2015. This subsidiary body is called the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action , in short, ADP.

ADP has an overarching mandate of delivering a global climate agreement in any of the three possible forms:

i. A legal instrument 

ii. A Protocol 

iii. An agreed outcome with legal force

3. Conclusion of some existing stream of negotiations

The Durban Platform called for the conclusion, in 2012, of the very broad Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (LCA) The LCA was established at COP13 in the Bali Action Plan.

4. Renewal of the Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol  was to run out at the end of 2012, thus, the Durban Platform  called for the adoption of a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

Conclusion

Thus, the Durban Platform laid the ground for the 2015 climate agreement. The next post will look at ADP in detail.

Kennedy Mbeva is the founder of GreenBits Initiative