PRESS RELEASE Yauvoli Chairs first-ever Session on Industrialised Nations Emissions Report Card Lima, Peru, December 9, 2014 – FOR The first time in the twenty-year history of the United Nations climate change Convention, industrialised countries presented reports on their efforts to mitigate or reduce dangerous greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. In a once hotly contentious issue, a specially convened session at the 20th UN Climate Change Conference, presided over by Fiji´s Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Amena Yauvoli in his capacity as Chair of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body of Implementation, saw 17 developed country Parties taking the floor in Lima, Peru, to report on their emission reduction actions. ¨Countries have long held back on this obligation under the Kyoto Protocol with many calling it an intrusion on national sovereignty. However, it is encouraging to see the process materialise. It bolsters our efforts to safeguard the planet from run-away climate change, whilst at the same time improve those targets by learning from each other´s challenges and best practices,¨ Mr Yauvoli said. As Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Mr Yauvoli facilitated the historic first session, ushering in a long awaited transparent multilateral assessment (MA) process where developed and developing nations critically assess and pose questions to industrialised countries on the contents of their report. ¨The lessons from this review and assessment process will help build an ambitious agreement in Paris next year. Interestingly, all countries including developing country parties to the climate Convention such as Fiji, may also be requested to undergo similar review processes in the near future to ensure that every nation plays an active part in our shared responsibility to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions,¨ added Mr Yauvoli. The MA is part of a newly established international assessment and review (IAR) process for developed country Parties. The IAR process is conducted under the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and aims to promote the comparability of efforts among all developed country Parties with regard to their quantified economy-wide emission limitation and reduction targets. As SBI Chair, Mr Yauvoli reported to the Conference of the Parties today on the successful completion of the first session of the multilateral assessment, which he said demonstrated that “low-carbon economy is the way of the future for all of us.” The IAR process comprises two parts: a technical review of the national reports of each developed country, followed by the MA of the progress towards achieving the economy-wide target by those countries. It started in January this year with the submission of the sixth national communications and the first biennial reports from developed country Parties and the technical review of those reports by international expert review teams. The first round of the MA working group session was undertaken successfully at this Lima conference for the 17 developed country Parties. The remaining developed country Parties will be assessed over the course of next year. -ENDS-
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 05:01:16 +0000
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