Background

As part of the Cancun Agreement, reached on December 11 in Cancun, Mexico, at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16), Parties decided to establish a Standing Committee to assist the COP in relation to the financial mechanism of the Convention. Paragraph 112 of the Cancun Agreement reads as follows:

"112.  [The COP] Decides to establish a Standing Committee under the Conference of the Parties to assist the Conference of the Parties in exercising its functions with respect to the financial mechanism of the Convention in terms of improving coherence and coordination in the delivery of climate change financing, rationalization of the financial mechanism, mobilization of financial resources and measurement, reporting and verification of support provided to developing country Parties; Parties agree to further define the roles and functions of this Standing Committee."

Update

At COP 17, in decision 2/CP.17, paragraph 120-125, and in Annex VI, Parties further defined the roles and functions, as well as the composition and working modalities, of the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee will report and make recommendations to the COP, for its consideration, at each ordinary session of the COP on all aspects of its work.

The Standing Committee will assist the COP in exercising its functions with respect to the financial mechanism of the Convention in terms of improving coherence and coordination in the delivery of climate change financing, rationalization of the financial mechanism, mobilization of financial resources, and measurement, reporting and verification of support provided to developing country Parties through activities, such as:

• Organizing a forum for communication and continued exchange of information among bodies and entities dealing with climate change finance in order to promote linkages and coherence;

• Maintaining linkages with the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and thematic bodies of the Convention;

• Providing to the COP draft guidance for the operating entities of the financial mechanism of the Convention, with a view to improving the consistency and practicality of such guidance, taking into account the annual reports of the operating entities as well as submissions from Parties;

• Making recommendations on how to improve the coherence, effectiveness and efficiency of the operating entities of the financial mechanism;

• Providing expert input, including through independent reviews and assessments, into the preparation and conduct of the periodic reviews of the financial mechanism by the COP;

• Preparing a biennial assessment, overview of climate finance flows, to include information on the geographical and thematic balance of such flows, drawing on available sources of information, including national communications and biennial reports of both developed and developing country Parties, information provided in the registry, information provided by Parties on assessments of their needs, reports prepared by the operating entities of the financial mechanism, and information available from other entities providing climate change finance;

• Additionally, the Standing Committee will perform any other functions that may be assigned to it by the COP.

The Standing Committee will develop a work programme based on its activities for presentation to COP 18.

The Standing Committee will meet at least twice a year, or more if necessary, and its first meeting will take place prior to the thirty-sixth session of the SBI. The COP will conduct a review of the functions of the Standing Committee in 2015.

Updated 26 March 2012