The latest stage in the UN negotiations on climate change is taking place in the International Conference Centre in Accra, Ghana, from 21 to 27 August 2008. This meeting will work towards adopting an international agreement under the terms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and work on post-2012 emission reductions for industrialized countries under the Kyoto protocol.
Over a thousand participants, including representatives from governments, the economic and industrial sector, environmental organisations and research institutes are expected to attend the Accra meeting. It forms part of the Bali roadmap, the United Nations negotiating process launched in December 2007 which aims to lead the international community towards a global agreement on fighting climate change by the end of 2009 at the Conference in Copenhagen. This agreement must involve all the countries and is due to take over from the Kyoto Protocol, the first commitment period of which expires in 2012.
The most important elements of the Accra talks include the third session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 3) which brings together the 180 countries bound by the Convention, and the first part of the sixth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on future commitments for industrialized countries under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG KP 6.1).
As part of the future negotiations of the Kyoto protocol, the work should lead to an agreement on the means made available to developed countries to attain their emission reduction targets after 2012. The aim is to explain how the flexibility mechanisms and the rules on carbon sink accounting work, and touch on a number of methodological points such as the inclusion of new gases and sectors. The French Presidency of the Council of the European Union has to move forward the negotiations to demonstrate to emerging and developing countries that industrialized countries are committed to establishing a post-2012 regime. If no progress is made on these issues in Accra, developing countries may seek to delay negotiations for a post-2012 system.
As part of the negotiation process on strengthening international action against climate change, two thematic workshops will be held in Accra on forestry and sectoral approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These should contribute to the Poznan Conference's success in December, where discussions will focus on the main elements of the post-2012 regime, as an intermediate step in the negotiation process launched in Bali and ending in December 2009 in Copenhagen.
