Divergent views, limited movement

Reports from facilitators of spin-off groups on progress achieved in their negotiations under the AWG-LCA amplified the lack of progress in Bangkok so far. AWG-LCA Chair Aysar Tayeb concluded that progress in the Bangkok negotiations had been limited, as strong divergent views remain on whether further work on the issues is needed beyond Doha and what body would be suited for addressing them.

On shared vision parties are divided on whether the context or the numbers for a global goal and peaking time frame should be addressed first. It is also unclear yet which body will undertake this after if the AWG-LCA winds down in Doha.

On developed country mitigation the discussions have not moved beyond clarification of targets and approaches for measuring progress to parties taking deeper cuts in their emissions. In fact the European Union on a separate platform has indicated that they will not go beyond 20 per cent on 1990s although the economic bloc had announced prior to Bangkok that will take up high ambitions to reduce emissions up to 30 per cent on 1990s levels.

On developing country Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) the spin-off group discussed elements which could be included as part of an outcome in Doha. The elements include enhanced support to deliver NAMAs, understanding the diversity of NAMAs, development of guidelines for Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of support, proposals for building the capacity of countries to prepare and implement NAMAs through regional workshops, guidelines and handbooks.

On REDD+ financing, the discussions have focused on guiding principles, enabling conditions necessary for scaling up and facilitating financing, issues that require further exploration and signals required from Doha to trigger financing for the full implementation of REDD+. Some of the institutional arrangements required include the establishment of REDD+ board, registries, insurance or reserve mechanism, review and regulatory bodies.

On sectoral approaches contact group which has focused on four options on the general framework, parties remain heavily divided. The facilitator of sectoral approaches reported discussions addressed five options on bunker fuels. This is expected to be narrowed down in later discussions.

There were also reports on various approaches, finance, technology, response measures, adaptation, capacity building and review.