The 2012 climate change intersessional meetings in Bonn will need to pick up the momentum generated in Durban. The Durban Platform has the goal of “enhancing mitigation ambition to identify and to explore options for a range of actions that can close the ambition gap with a view to ensuring the highest possible mitigation efforts by all Parties”, and includes a commitment to develop a “new protocol, another legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force” by 2015.

A governing instrument for a Green Climate Fund as a financial instrument of the convention was agreed. Progress will also need to be made on the issue of how to ensure transparency on the delivery of finance to support developing countries to address climate change. Limited progress was made on the incentive frameworks for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in Durban although the option remains on the table, and some progress was made on baselines and safeguards.

REDD+ negotiations in Bonn will pick up on the drivers of deforestation which there was not time to address last December. Agreement is needed on  how to deal with cross-sectoral challenges that touch on complex issues such as food security and rural development. 

The ODI Climate Change, Forests and Environment team will actively engage in the intersessional discussions, and convene a number of events in Bonn, including as part of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Our focus will be on transparency effective delivery of climate finance in climate finance: we will release new studies on the UK and US contributions to climate finance which will be featured at a side event with WRI on 18May, and roll out an enhanced version of Climate Funds Update, a joint initiative with the Heinrich Böll Foundation to monitor climate finance. 

We will also follow negotiations on REDD+ , and participate in the second meeting of the REDD+ Partnership  to be held the weekend before the UNFCCC talks begin. We will post frequent commentary on major developments and reports from the meetings we convene over as the negotiations proceed.