The Outcomes of the 23rd UN Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in Bonn

Lorenzo Pietro Spiller
Associate at Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners Law Firm

Under the radiant banner of the Fijian national flag, the 23rd session of the Climate Change Conference of the United Nations took place in Bonn, Germany, during one of the warmest Novembers on record in the history of humanity,^[1] . The challenges this year’s session had to confront were multiple, ranging from the infamous declaration of the US President of his will to formally withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change to the surge in coal consumption and investments in coal mining projects. On top of that, the implementation of a comprehensive procedure to take stock of the progress in terms of reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and transition towards a sustainable development and the financial support that developed countries should provide to developing countries pursuant to Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement, were also crucial points to be discussed during the COP23.
In this respect, as a first “balance sheet” of this year’s session, it is safe to say that it has been moderately successful.
First of all, because the participation of the US representatives has neither obstructed nor boycotted the roundtables of the negotiations, an approach which was largely feared in the period preceding the conference. On the contrary, the official US delegation, which was mainly composed of the same officials who took part in the previous sessions (including the COP 21 held in Paris), adopted a soft, low-profile approach^[2] , also considering that the US will be part of the Paris Agreement until 2020. Moreover, a large group of US companies and associations, which named themselves “We Are Still In”, also took part in the conference, organizing numerous debates and actions with the aim of advocating that the US remain part of the Paris Agreement. From the federalist viewpoint, such wide participation of civil society and businesses, advocating a more internationally-involved approach of the United States, certainly comes as a positive note. The proposal of a worldwide democracy requires the involvement of a solid and structured ecosystem of private entities, especially when the government of a country such as the United States seems to embrace the path of isolationism and autarchy.
Another important achievement of the COP 23 is the formalization, in the form of 266 pages of “informal notes”^[3] , of the main proposals emerged in the last year in relation to the establishment of shared rules for the submission of the so-called “Nationally Determined Contributions”^[4] , which will still be defined by parties to the Paris Agreement within the post-2020 framework. Said rules encompass, inter alia, transparency in the submission of NDCs, the mechanisms to effectively carry out a global stocktake of the results achieved in terms of mitigation of the effects of climate change, implementation and compliance of the rules and principles set out under the Paris Agreement, and financial issues.
This set of rules may be crucial in order to better manage the flow of information and data which the UN will receive by the parties of the Paris Agreement in connection with their NDCs, and may ensure greater transparency and accountability within the submission process.
In relation to the stocktake of the results already achieved in terms of mitigation and reduction of carbon dioxide emission, the parties reached another material agreement during the COP 23, setting out the procedure for a facilitative dialogue between the Parties of the Paris Agreement, which has been renamed “Talanoa Dialogue”5 in honor of the Fijian presidency (Talanoa is a traditional word used in Fiji and the Pacific to reflect a process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue).
The Talanoa Dialogue^[6] is subdivided into two different phases:

1. a preparatory phase, which already started on January 1st, 2018, and will end at COP 24, during which the parties to the Paris Agreement and other stakeholders are invited to cooperate and give inputs to build a stronger political momentum in the pre-2020 period. In addition, during such phase the parties will analyze the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
2. a political phase, during which the Parties will begin to take stock of the progress made since the Paris Agreement, and will inform on the preparation of the NDCs pursuant to Article 4, Paragraph 8 of the Paris Agreement.

To sum up, although the achievements of the COP 23 have been fairly satisfactory, especially in terms of sketching out a wide set of rules and mechanisms for the implementation of the principles and duties set out under the Paris Agreement, further steps should be taken at international level in order to effectively mitigate climate change, promote the development of clean energy production and energy conservation, and ensure a transparent, democratic and inclusive energy-governance at the international level.
Most notably, the parties to the Paris Agreement should seek a more consistent harmonization of energy policies and legislations, with particular reference to public measures such as subsidies, incentives and tax breaks. In this respect, countries having a more “mature” market with reference to renewables and energy conservation (e.g. European Countries and Australia) should cooperate with developing countries to identify the public measures which are more appropriate to the characteristics of each respective domestic market, also to avoid the mistakes and inappropriate measures which have been already taken by the governments of developed countries (for instance, the Italian Law Decree No.91 dated 24 June 2014, the so called “Spalma-Incentivi Decree”, which, retroactively, imposed a cut to the various incentives provided to solar electricity producers operating in Italy).
Such harmonization would also help operators in the field of clean energy to transfer their know-how and technology more freely, and enhance strategic investments in lesser developed countries (e.g. India or South Asian countries) which still rely heavily on oil and coal as raw materials for electricity production and for building heating systems.
From a governmental perspective, the parties to the Paris Agreement and their governments shall cooperate to create and establish democratic entities entrusted with the governance, and possibly the government, of energy security and affordability for all citizens, also considering that investments in clean energy sources such as solar and wind ones are largely made by private companies and funds, preventing large monopolies from imposing higher prices, and promoting energy independence between economic and political blocs. In conclusion, the results achieved in Bonn should pave the way to a more organized and regulated debate on climate change at international level, and, hopefully, prevent the unfortunate multiplication of natural calamities, together with a more courageous approach by other global powers (especially EU and China) in leading the transition towards sustainable development and low carbon economies. This, we hope, will convince the US administration to come to its senses and acknowledge that climate change is actually happening, and it is happening very fast. 

¹ According to several meteorological research centers including the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Copernicus Climate Change Service, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), among many centers.
² Jocelyn Timperley, COP23:Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Bonn, published on Carbon Brief, accessible at the website https://www.carbonbrief. org/cop23-key-outcomes-agreed-un-climate-talks-bonn
³ Accessibile at the website http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2017/apa/eng/l04a01.pdf
⁴ The Nationally Determined Contributions have been introduced under the Paris Agreement, whose Article 4, paragraph 2 reads: “Each Party shall prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions that it intends to achieve. Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions.”
⁵ Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Outcomes of the U.N. Climate Conference in Bonn, accessible at https://www.c2es.org/document/outcomes-of-the-un-climate-change-conference-in-bonn/, last accessed on 13 January 2018
⁶ The Talanoa Dialogue document is attached to the Proposal by the President, Draft decision 1/CP.23, accessible at the website http://unfccc.int/resource/ docs/2017/cop23/eng/l13.pdf, last accessed on 13 January 2018