Bali Climate Change Conference (COP 13 und COP/MOP 3)
Launch of Negotiations on a KyotoPlus Agreement
The annual UN climate summit was held from 3 to 14 December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. The rather pessimitic mood prevailing throughout the preceeding conference in Nairobi had dramatically changed in 2007: underpinned by the mounting awareness on climate change culminating in awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the IPCC, the conference marked a critical moment for the Parties and negotiators to start negotiating on an ambitious post-2012 regime.
The post-2012 negotiations currently run along several tracks: first, the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol are negotiating new emission targets for the industrialised countries for the time post 2012. Second, Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change launched a "Dialogue", which aims at integrating large developing countries and the United States, which has refused to ratify Kyoto, in constructive discussions on the future of the climate regime. At the most recent conference in Nairobi, two new items relevant to the post-2012 regime were put on the agenda, namely a review of the Kyoto Protocol under its Article 9 and the Russian proposal on voluntary commitments.
These arenas were the place where delegates were negotiating on the future of the climate regime. With the adoption of the "Bali Action Plan", the overall aim of the Bali conference to agree on a "roadmap" for the negotiations on a post 2012 climate regime was reached. Starting these negotiations in Bali was essential for the regime to come into effect without a gap between the first and the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Considering that the ratification of a possible post-2012 agreement is going to take more than three years, it is necessary to reach an agreement on the post-2012 regime by 2009. This implies starting the negotiations on this agreement now and organise them in a way that allows conclusion within two years.
Five researchers from Wuppertal attended the conference and hosted a side event on their current research on the future of the climate regime. Their analysis of the negotiations will be made available on this website shortly. Further below you will find a compilation of publications by the Wuppertal Institute on current issues in climate policy, analyses of previous climate conferences and links to further information available on the internet.
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