The UN Climate Change Conference began in Doha yesterday (26 November) with calls for governments to focus on ‘essential tasks’ ahead of them to curb climate change.

Representatives from the 195 parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), government delegates, representatives from business and industry and environmental organisations, amongst others, have congregated in Doha for The UN Climate Change Conference, which runs until 7 December.

Over 100 ministers are scheduled to attend a high-level meeting opened by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, that begins on 4 December and ends with a decision-making plenary on 7 December. The opening of the high-level segment will also be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

President of the Conference of the Parties, Dr Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Chairman of Qatar’s Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, urged the parties to stick to agreed timetables and ‘finalise work on time’ to increase the speed at which climate change protection can be implemented.

“Climate change is a common challenge for humanity. We must work in earnest for a better future for present and for future generations. We have a precious opportunity over the coming days, and we must make full use of it. Many delegates have stressed the importance of finalising work on time, and that requires that we all show flexibility”, he said.

Recent reports published ahead of the conference have outlined forecasts for the impact of climate change, with The World Bank’s ‘Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided’,warning against the impacts of a four-degree global temperature increase.

The World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim commented: "A 4 degrees Celsius (°C) warmer world can, and must be, avoided – we need to hold warming below 2°C. Lack of action on climate change threatens to make the world our children inherit a completely different world than we are living in today. Climate change is one of the single biggest challenges facing development, and we need to assume the moral responsibility to take action on behalf of future generations, especially the poorest."

However, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that the gap between what is needed in terms of emission reductions to stay below 2°C, and what is so far promised by countries is still widening, not decreasing.

Longer-term solutions

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: “Expert analysis consistently says that we do have the possibility to keep on track and that to act now is safer and much less costly than to delay. In the last three years, policy and action towards a sustainable, clean energy future has been growing faster than ever. But the door is closing fast because the pace and scale of action is simply not yet enough. So Doha must deliver its part in the longer-term solution.

“Governments have said they intend to work hard to advance their decision texts before the high-level segment, so they can hand over a very limited set of options to ministers and close successfully at the end of next week”, she added.

UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey said that a ‘global effort’ is needed to pave the way for a new climate change agreement to take over from the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire at the end of the year.

He said: “Many developed and developing countries have already come forward with pledges under the UN framework to reduce their emissions by 2020. I want to encourage more to do so at Doha and beyond.

“I want to see progress at Doha on achieving the global deal that all countries agreed to work towards in Durban last year. For the first time all countries agreed to sign up to a legally-binding deal to be adopted by 2015, and at Doha we need to agree a plan for these crucial negotiations.”

The Energy Secretary and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, will representing the UK at the summit.

Environmental group, Friends of the Earth, urged the UK to ‘show leadership’ at the conference, with campaigner, Asad Rehman, saying: “With the impacts of climate change already biting, nations must wake up to the urgent need to slash global emissions and avert a planetary emergency that will devastate the lives and livelihoods of billions of people.

“EU credibility is on the line – its current proposals are completely inadequate and would allow European nations to emit more pollution, not less. Doha must come up with a science-based route map to navigate the world towards a carbon-free future – and developed nations such as the UK, who’ve done most to create the mess we’re in, must show leadership to ensure we get there.”

Issues for discussion

The key objectives set out for discussion and action at the conference, include:

1) Ensuring the ‘seamless continuation’ of the Kyoto Protocol (that commits developed countries to cut greenhouse gases) as of 1 January 2013 by: settingthe length of the second commitment period; deciding how to convert targets into ‘quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives’ (QELROs), the unit of binding reduction commitments; and outlining the legal formulation of the amendment to the protocol, including how to carry over unused emission credits of economies in transition into the second phase of the protocol.

2) Planning work under the Durban Agreement(that sets out that governments must reach a universal climate change agreement covering all countries from 2020, to be adopted by 2015), by making sure the task is delivered and the timetable is met and that different national circumstances are addressed in an ‘effective, fair, ambitious agreement’.

3) Completing the 2007 Bali Action Plan (to curb greenhouse gas emissions and outline the ‘finance, technology and capacity-building’ developing countries require to build their own ‘low-emission, climate-resilient futures’) by deciding which elements have been achieved and what more needs to be done.

4) Completing new infrastructure and charting the way forward on long-term climate finance, by endorsing the decision on the location of the Green Climate Fund and the work plan of the newly established Standing Committee on Finance, and ‘formally deciding’ on the location and mode of operation of the Climate Technology Center and Network.

Other issues that will be covered in Doha include: protecting against loss and damage caused by slow onset events, such as rising sea levels; completing a web-based registry to record developing country mitigation actions that seek recognition or financial support, ensuring that efforts to fight deforestation are supported and enabling the development and transfer of technologies that can help developing countries adapt and curb their emissions.

Read more about the UN Climate Change Conference’s daily schedules, meetings and statements.