EXPLAINER: How is the world’s climate action deal being negotiated?

Pia Ranada

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EXPLAINER: How is the world’s climate action deal being negotiated?
Rappler explains the negotiation process that aims to produce the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

LE BOURGET, France – How exactly do you “negotiate” the world’s action plan against climate change?

Climate negotiations are notoriously tiresome to understand because of the many technical issues involved.  

Differentiation, climate finance, technology transfer, mitigation, Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, Durban Platform for Enhanced Action – these are just some of the ingredients in its esoteric word soup. 

But behind these alien-sounding terms are people (called negotiators) taking part in a highly political diplomatic process.

COUNTRY REPS. This is Chinese climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua during the first week of COP21. Photo from official COP21 Flickr

The process is now happening in Paris, in a landmark UN climate change conference called COP21 (21st Conference of Parties).

The goal of negotiators during COP21? To push forward the interests of their countries in what will be the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the world’s action plan to combat global warming. 

The agreement is a text, a document, that lays down what actions countries will take to limit carbon emissions and what resources will be available to help poorer countries.

The problem is, interests of the over 190 countries formulating the action plan aren’t necessarily compatible with one another.

Thus, the need for negotiations. Here, country negotiators, in a process facilitated by the UN, go through each and every line in the draft of the agreement together and bring up whatever changes or retentions they want.

The hope of the UN and world leaders is for negotiations to produce, by consensus, a Paris agreement that satisfies all countries but is also effective in protecting people and keeping global warming at a manageable level. 

THE ACTORS

NEGOTIATORS. Countries are represented by negotiators who advance their country's interests during discussions on what the final climate agreement must contain. Photo from official COP21 Flickr

Negotiators: They are often government officials or experts on fields related to climate change.  

Delegations: Each country sends a delegation composed mostly of ministers, negotiators, and their support staff. Sizes of delegations vary. The Philippine delegation to COP21 is comprised of 158 people. Indonesia sent a team of around 400.

Negotiating blocs: In order to have a stronger voice in the negotiations, countries form alliances with one another called negotiating blocs. The biggest negotiating bloc is the G77+China, a group of 130 developing countries.

The EU bloc is composed of the 27 European states. Oil-producing countries in the Middle East are members of the Arab Group.

BLOCS. Here is the office of negotiating block AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) in the COP21 venue in Le Bourget, Paris. Photo by Pia Ranada/Rappler

Then there’s SIDS (Small Island Developing States), small island countries like Vanuatu and Maldives that are also part of the G77 bloc but formed their own bloc because of the common threat they face: sea level rise.

Each negotiation bloc takes its own position on issues in the agreement.

THE NEGOTIATING LEVELS

PARIS COMMITTEE. Negotiators from all countries convene during the daily Paris Committee meetings. Photo from official COP21 Flickr

Negotiating is always a give and take. Country negotiators have to deal with the reality that the position of their country may be challenged by other countries with different interests. They must also deal with the fact that their country is duty-bound to adopt the stance of the negotiating bloc it is a member of.

Working Groups

The 21-page draft of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is divided into several articles which deal with specific issues. For example, Article 6 is all about climate finance. Article 4 is about adaptation. Article 2 is about the purpose of the agreement.

Country delegations assign negotiators to focus on the articles or issues that matter to them. For example, the Philippines’ lead negotiator on adaptation is Alicia Ilaga who heads the Climate Change Office in the Department of Agriculture, one of the sectors that needs to adapt to effects of climate change.

For COP21, 4 Working Groups have been created to tackle 4 themes: Differentiation, Ambition, Support (covers climate finance, technology, capacity-building), and Acceleration of pre-2020 actions.

Country negotiators meet under the Working Group that covers their area of focus.

During the Working Group meetings, negotiators need to ensure the wording of the article decided by the group is consistent with their country’s stance. One way they do this is by speaking up.

Negotiators turn over their country’s name plate as a sign to the chairperson that they wish to comment on the line of the article up for discussion.

After being recognized by the chairperson, the negotiator speaks to support, oppose, or suggest a certain word or paragraph.

Informal informals

These are back-end meetings that take place outside the Working Groups. In fact, they often take place in coffee shops or corridors in the conference venues.

Small groups of negotiators get together to resolve their differences over specific words or paragraphs.

The goal is to build consensus in small groups in order to have a unified stance when they face the larger, more formal meetings.

Bilateral meetings

“Bilats,” as they are called, are meetings between two parties – whether it be one country minister meeting with another minister, or a country negotiator with a civil society representative.

They meet to consult with the other in order to better form a position in the negotiations. This is another way of resolving differences and forging consensus on a contentious issue.

Paris Committee

The daily progress made (or lack thereof) in the Working Group meetings, informal informals, and bilaterals all end up in front of the Paris Committee, a gathering of lead negotiators and ministers from all countries.

The articles, as revised by the Working Groups, are submitted to the Paris Committee in the evening.

The Paris Committee then lays out the latest versions of the articles until they form the most updated version of the draft agreement. When the sun rises on the next day of the conference, it is that version of the agreement that will then undergo the same process of negotiations. 

When does it end?

THE WORLD WAITS. Will the French-led COP21 produce the climate change agreement the world needs? Photo from official COP21 Flickr

Much of the draft agreement are words or paragraphs in brackets. Being bracketed means they are still up for discussion and can be removed any time.

The French government, currently president of the conference, wants the final version (bracket-less) of the draft to be submitted to the legal and linguistic review group by Thursday to give enough time for it to be translated into 6 languages.

If all goes according to plan, the agreement will be formally adopted by country ministers on the summit’s last day on Friday, December 11. – Rappler.com

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Pia Ranada

Pia Ranada is Rappler’s Community Lead, in charge of linking our journalism with communities for impact.