Half Time at the United Nations Climate Talks in Bonn

On Monday, 31 May, the United Nation’s Bonn Climate Change talks began. The meeting will be concluded on Friday, 11 June. During the two weeks, different UNFCCC bodies and working groups will be discussing a wide variety of issues. Whilst a legally-binding outcome at the World Climate Change Conference in Mexico is not a realistic scenario, a closer look at the Bonn meeting can provide for valuable insights.

Interestingly, the AWG-LCA’s discussion about market mechanisms has warmed up. The EU’s advocacy for sectoral market mechanisms received some support from Japan and the US, which emphasize sectoral crediting in their draft legislation. Many countries underlined the role the CDM will play after 2012, which has no timely limitation. The debate about the CDM is accompanied by technical discussions in the Subsidiary Bodies, e.g. about standardized baselines, Carbon Capture and Storage and a possible inclusion of reforestation project activities under the CDM.

By the end of the week, the results of discussions about International Transaction Log Fees, the treatment of emissions from international aviation and maritime transport and of HCFC-22/HFC-23 will deserve attention.

There has been a lot of speculation about the EU possibly increasing its emissions reduction target for 2020 to -30%. A study presented by EU's Climate Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, estimated the costs at 81 billion euros. However, she made clear, conditions to move to the more ambitious target "are clearly not met."

With Yvo de Boer leaving the UNFCCC secretariat by the end of the Bonn climate Talks, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Christiana Figueres (Costa Rica) as new Executive Secretary. As a legally-binding agreement will be hard to achieve before COP 17 in South Africa, a shift in emphasis towards the development of green technologies is expected by many analysts.