For use of the media only;
not an official document.

Bonn, 25 February 1997 -- Some 150 governments are meeting here over the next two weeks to draft a negotiating text for an international agreement committing developed countries to cutting their emissions of greenhouse gases in the first decades of the 21st century.

The first period of 25 - 28 February will be taken up by the Climate Change Convention's subsidiary bodies on implementation (SBI), scientific and technological advice (SBSTA), and promotion of implementation (the Ad hoc Group on Article 13, or AG13). The so-called Berlin Mandate talks on stronger emissions-control commitments will be held during the second week of 3 - 7 March.

Under the Convention, developed countries have agreed to take measures aimed at returning their greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. At the first session of the treaty's Conference of the Parties (COP) in 1995 in Berlin, governments recognized that stronger measures were needed for minimizing the risk of climate change. They established the Ad hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM) to negotiate new developed-country commitments for the post-2000 period.

At the AGBM's fifth session in Geneva last December, delegates asked the chairman, Amb. Raul Estrada-Oyuela of Argentina, to develop a "framework compilation of proposals" on the basis of some two dozen position papers submitted by governments. Delegates will use this 88-page paper (Document FCCC/AGBM/1997/2) for preparing a negotiating text by the end of the current session.

This draft "protocol or another legal instrument" will then be circulated to all governments in the six official UN languages by 1 June, six months in advance of the COP session that will adopt it.

This text will be the subject of further intense negotiations at meetings to be held in Bonn in August and October.

Some of the key issues now being debated are:

* Timetables and targets for emissions reductions. A number of governments (including some members of the European Union) are calling for 10% reductions in carbon dioxide by the year 2005; some (such as the low-lying island states) want an even more ambitious cut of 20% by this date. Still others (including Australia, Canada, Japan, and the US) argue that a 2005 date is unrealistic and propose objectives be set for the 2010-2015 period without quantifying them.

* Coordinated vs. flexible policies. Some governments (notably EU members) argue the need for internationally coordinated policies. Others say it would be more cost-efficient to allow each country to adopt the policies and measures best suited to its national circumstances.

* Common vs. differentiated commitments. There are differing points of view on whether all developed countries should have the same targets and timetable, or whether it would be fairer if different countries had different commitments based on various possible formulae (for example per-capita targets). Critics of differentiation are concerned that it poses too many methodological and political problems.

* Implications for developing countries. The new commitments being developed through the Berlin Mandate talks will be for developed countries only (the talks also address how to advance the implementation of existing commitments by all Parties). However, some developed countries have offered proposals that would allow other countries to adhere to any future agreement on a voluntary basis. Meanwhile, a number of developing countries want the agreement's possible trade and economic impacts on developing countries to be dealt with.

In addition to the AGBM, the Convention's other subsidiary bodies are also tackling issues vital to the Convention's success. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice will examine the groundrules for Activities Implemented Jointly (whereby one country makes investments that reduce emissions in another country) as well as the needs of developing countries for technology and technology information. The Subsidiary Body for Implementation will undertake a review so that Parties can definitively determine the role of the Global Environment Facility; the GEF currently operates the Convention's financial "mechanism" on an interim basis.

This is the first time that the climate change talks are being held in Bonn; this city now hosts the Convention's secretariat and will be the regular venue for the talks from now on. The current session is being held at the Stadthalle, Bad Godesberg. The next sessions will take place in Bonn from 28 July to 7 August and from 20-31 October. The exact dates for the next COP have not been finalized, but this third session will take place during the period of 1-12 December in Kyoto, Japan.

The Climate Change Convention was adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It entered into force on 21 March 1994 and has been ratified by 164 countries and the EU. The treaty negotiations were inspired in large part by the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international network of thousands of scientists and other experts sponsored by the UN Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization.

According to the IPCC, current trends in greenhouse gas emissions are likely to cause the average global temperature to increase by 1-3.5 degrees C over the next 100 years. As a result, sea levels are expected to rise by 15 to 95 cm and climate zones to shift towards the poles by 150 to 550 km in mid latitudes. Forests, deserts, rangelands, and other unmanaged ecosystems would face new climatic stresses, as would human societies, health, and infrastructure.

Note to journalists: For more information please contact Michael Williams, Information Unit for Conventions in Geneva at (41-22) 979 9242/44, fax (41-22) 797 3464, e-mail mwilliams@unep.ch, or during the meeting at the Stadthalle in Bad Godesberg. For information on accreditation and related matters, please contact Axel Wustenhagen, UN Information Centre in Bonn (49-228) 815-2770, fax 815-2777, e-mail unic@uno.de. Please note that official documents and other materials are available in English on the Internet at http://www.unfccc.de.