Good Practice
United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali
December 2007
The Conference, hosted by the Government of Indonesia, took place at the Bali International Convention Centre at the beginning of December 2007 and brought together more than 10,000 participants, including representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations and the media. The two week period included the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. A ministerial segment in the second week concluded the Conference.
The conference culminated in the adoption of the Bali roadmap, which charts the course for a new negotiating process to be concluded by 2009 that will ultimately lead to a post-2012 international agreement on climate change. Ground-breaking decisions were taken which form core elements of the roadmap. They include the launch of the Adaptation Fund as well as decisions on technology transfer and on reducing emissions from deforestation. These decisions represent various tracks that are essential to achieving a secure climate future.
The Climate Summit in Bali reached a decision on an action plan to reach deep cuts in global emissions and emphazises the urgency to do so to reduce the risk of more severe climate change impacts. This is a good starting point to reach a binding Post 2012 commitment at the summit in 2009 in Copenhagen.
This clear political decision leaves it up to all to do their uppermost in reaching the goals, where technology development and technology transfer is a key issue. It was thus also decided in Bali to further support technology transfer. This is needed in order to reduce the emissions significantly in developing countries below the expected baseline.
There is still a long way and much work to do, but at least the direction is clear. And actually the decisions are more groundbreaking than they looks at first glance.
The final decisions do not include direct statements on the needed CO2 reductions from the IPCC report – nor the 2 degrees Celcius mean temperature rise that is the highest acceptable to avoid more severe impacts of climate change. But taking a closer look at the footnote changes this judgement.
The footnote in the preamble to the Bali Action Plan links to statements in the IPPC reports that clearly shows that the global CO2-emissions should peek not later than 2015 and with a reduction of the global CO2 emisisons by 50-85% in 2050 compared to 2000. This means that the emissions from the industrialised countries must be even lower.
Now that it is stated what should be done the work still remains to find the most viable road towards the goal – To define and develop the technologies and instruments needed. There was a clear decision in Bali to ease and support technology development and transfer by both administrative and financial means to remove obstacles and accelerate diffusion and transfer of technologies.
All of this requires the active participation of technology providers and project developers. The Technology at Work (T@W) team aims to offer workshops, partner matching and other services to facilitate this participation.
For further information see:
- UNFCC Event Website for background, decisions, presentations and archives
- Relevant issues of Earth Negotiation Bulletin for a resume of discussions and side events
