International Negotiations
Energy Consulting Network (ECNet) - 16 April 2009

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the key forum for setting the international framework governing the carbon market. The Conferences take place in the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change/UNFCCC and have been held in all parts of the world starting with the first conference in Berlin, 1995.

COP3 in Kyoto in 1997 marked an important step in the development as for the first time binding targets were agreed for greenhouse gas emissions in 37 industrialised countries from 2008 to 2012. On 16 February 2005 the protocal came into force, though it was not ratified by several UNFCCC member countries.

The latest Conference of the Parties (COP14) took place in Poznań , Poland , 1-12 December 2008. This conference underlined the importance of the carbon market and intense discussion was taken on what should be the direction of the market development and related rules for the market participants.

A key discussion concerned a wish to develop the sector CDM concept as a way to streamline the project mechanism in conjunction with streamlining the general procedures surrounding approval of CDM projects, so that the long time taken for validation will not slow down the development of the market. Another key focus was to make a special effort to encourage CDM project development in Least Developed Countries in the form of capacity building and other measures.

The next Conference of the Parties (COP15) will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 7 to 18 December 2009. There are hopes that COP15 will lead to agreement for follow-up of the Kyoto Protocol, spurred by the recent positive signals from the new USA administration. In the event that agreement can be reached under COP15 the EU is willing to commit for a further CO₂ reduction target from 20 to 30% by 2020.

More information is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission/ and http://unfccc.int