The SBSTA, at its eighteenth session, requested the secretariat to organize a pre-sessional consultation before its nineteenth session to provide information and share experiences to facilitate the development of these two new agenda items.

The SBSTA, at its nineteenth session, welcomed the exchange of views between Parties and representatives of the IPCC, industry, local government, and non-governmental organizations, who participated in the pre-sessional consultations on the Third Assessment Report and noted that such exchanges with experts may be useful for the future work of the SBSTA. It requested the secretariat to conduct an in-session workshop at SBSTA 20 to explore sustainable development opportunities and solutions, and vulnerability and risk as they relate to mitigation of climate change. The COP, by its decision 10/CP.9, requested the SBSTA to initiate work on scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of mitigation, and to report on its work in these areas to the COP at its eleventh session. As a next step, the SBSTA at its twentieth session, requested the secretariat, under the guidance of the Chair of the SBSTA, to organize a second in-session workshop on mitigation at SBSTA 21 to exchange information and share experiences and views on the following topics:

• mitigation technology innovation, deployment and diffusion, including identification of and removal of barriers;
• practical opportunities and solutions for mitigation that contribute to sustainable development.

The SBSTA, at its twenty-first session invited Parties to submit to the secretariat, by 5 August 2005, their views on lessons learned from the mitigation workshops held to date and any future steps under this agenda item. These submissions are contained in document FCCC/SBSTA/2005/MISC.12.

The SBSTA, at its twenty-second session, requested the secretariat to prepare, under the guidance of the Chair of the SBSTA, a report on the topics presented at the in-session workshops. This report can be found in document FCCC/SBSTA/2005/INF.5.

The SBSTA, at its twenty-third session, agreed to continue its work on the scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of mitigation, and to focus on exchanging information and sharing experiences and views among Parties on practical opportunities and solutions to facilitate the implementation of the Convention as mandated by decision 10/CP.9.

In this context, the SBSTA requested the secretariat to organize workshops at each of its next four sessions. In response to this request, the secretariat organized five workshops in 2006 and 2007, which addressed scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of mitigation of climate change.The first of these workshops was held as an in-session workshop during SBSTA 24. At the same session, the SBSTA agreed to take stock of its work on scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of mitigation of climate change at its twenty-seventh session, and to report to the COP at its thirteenth session. The workshops provided for a useful initial exchange of information and sharing of experiences on a wide range of issues. The workshops related to:

• Agriculture, forestry and rural development (SBSTA 24, May 2006)
• Urban planning and development, including transportation (SBSTA 26, May 2007)
• Energy efficiency, including industry, and residential and commercial end-use (SBSTA 26, May 2007)
• Power generation, including clean fossil fuels and renewable energy (SBSTA 26, May 2007)
• Non-CO2 emissions, including methane recovery and utilization (SBSTA 27, December 2007)

Each workshop addressed the following aspects, taking into account ongoing work under the agenda item on development and transfer of technologies, including the work of the Expert Group on Technology Transfer:

• Currently available and emerging technologies, including small-scale mitigation technologies, and associated emission reduction potential; opportunities and best practices to overcome barriers to and factors that promote innovation, deployment, transfer and diffusion of these technologies, including through innovative financing
• International cooperative efforts to promote technology innovation, deployment, transfer and diffusion, and opportunities to enhance such cooperation
• Socio-economic aspects of mitigation, such as costs and benefits, co-benefits, spillover effects and "win–win" practices that contribute to sustainable development
• Cross-cutting aspects and methods and tools for assessing mitigation opportunities.

The report on the information presented by Parties during the workshops on mitigation is found in document: FCCC/SBSTA/2007/INF.3

The SBSTA, at its twenty-seventh session, expressed its appreciation to all presenters for their contributions at the five workshops organized during 2006 and 2007 and noted that the workshops provided for a useful initial exchange of information and sharing of experiences on all issue-subjects. The SBSTA recognized the usefulness of the information presented and encouraged Parties to make use of this information in their deliberations. The SBSTA also noted that mitigation of climate change is being addressed under other agenda items of the SBSTA, by other bodies and within other processes under the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.

The SBSTA, at its twenty-eight session, recognized that mitigation was being addressed under the work and negotiations under the Bali Action Plan ( Decision 1/CP.13) towards a post-2012 climate change agreement. Parties agreed that further work on mitigation was needed, but that duplication of work between the different bodies and processes under the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol should be avoided. Parties also agreed that further work should take into account the best available scientific information on mitigation, particularly that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The SBSTA thus agreed to continue work on mitigation at its thirty-second session (FCCC/SBSTA/2008/6 paras. 137-140).

The SBSTA, at its thirty-second session, requested the secretariat to prepare a synthesis report on the work already undertaken under the agenda item on scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of mitigation (FCCC/SBSTA/2010/6, paragraph 103). The secretariat made the report available to the SBSTA for consideration at its thirty-third session (FCCC/SBSTA/2010/11).

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