UNITED NATIONS
NATIONS UNIES

INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE
FOR A FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE (INC/FCCC)

COMITÉ INTERGOUVERNEMENTAL DE NÉGOCIATION
D'UNE CONVENTION-CADRE SUR LES CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES (CIN/CCCC)

Climate change meeting to discuss new treaty commitments

Geneva, 19 August 1994 -- Facing a full agenda of challenging items, representatives from some 150 states are returning to Geneva on Monday for talks on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The tenth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) will last for two weeks, from 22 August to 2 September. The INC is a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly and has the job of preparing for a ministerial conference on the treaty that starts on 28 March 1995 in Berlin.

The meeting will open at 10 a.m. with statements by the INC's Chairman, Ambassador Raúl Estrada-Oyuela of Argentina, and its Executive Secretary, Mr. Michael Zammit Cutajar.

Ms. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will then speak on the arrangements for the Convention's future permanent secretariat. The location of the secretariats for the climate change and other treaties has sparked considerable political interest, all the more so since the placing of the World Trade Organization in Geneva. In addition, a number of UN organisations, including UNEP, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD), have expressed interest in administering the climate change secretariat.

Another opening day speaker will be Professor Bert Bolin, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He will summarise the newest developments in climate change science that are relevant to the treaty (Prof. Bolin will brief the press on Monday, 22 August at 2:15 p.m. in Press Room 1).

Mr. Mohamed El-Ashry, recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), will also address the delegates. The GEF has recently been restructured and its funds replenished with $2 billion for 1994-97 (some 40% of which is expected to go for climate change projects).

Among the topics to be discussed during the meeting is whether or not a protocol will be needed to strengthen the treaty. The treaty commits developed countries to take measures aimed at returning their emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the year 2000. Parties to the Convention must decide at next year's Berlin conference if this and other treaty commitments are adequate for stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at safe levels.

Although the Berlin meeting is seven months away, a number of countries are likely to state their views on this core issue.

Another key topic is the review of information that most developed countries will submit by 21 September describing their efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The meeting must finalise how the review will be conducted to ensure that it is completed in time for the Berlin conference.

Explains Executive Secretary Michael Zammit Cutajar, "The review is not meant to be a compliance exercise, but rather a fruitful exchange of national experiences and lessons learned in tackling climate change. The results should offer both governments and the public a general picture of where action under the Convention is leading."

The issue of joint implementation (JI) is also on the agenda. Supporters of JI believe that it can be cost-effective to allow one country to fulfil part of its commitment to limit emissions by encouraging financial or technological transfers that help to limit emissions in another country. Sceptics are concerned that JI could become a loop-hole allowing developed countries to avoid investing in new technologies and changing their consumption patterns to tackle their own emissions. The meeting may approve an initial JI pilot phase.

The treaty was signed by 154 governments plus the EC (now the EU) at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Next week's meeting is the first session of the INC since the treaty entered into force on 21 March 1994. The Convention has now been ratified by 85 countries and the EU, and these Parties are now legally bound by its terms. More States may become Parties during the session.