Outcome of the Climate Change Conference in Cancún

The 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change took place in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010.

The Council exchanged views on the outcome and follow-up to the UN climate conference in Cancún, which discussed the global framework for climate protection.

The president drew the following conclusions from the debate.

The Cancún Climate Conference had a positive and forward-looking outcome which allows for immediate and concrete actions on the ground and lays the foundation of a global and comprehensive post-2012 outcome. This outcome reconfirms the strength of the multilateral process in order to find global solutions to global problems.

There are a number of very positive steps:

• the establishment of the Cancún Adaptation Framework aimed at enhancing action on adaptation in a coherent manner;
• the agreement on policy approaches and positive incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conserve and enhance forest carbon stocks and sustainably manage forests;
• the establishment of the Green Climate Fund and of the Technology Mechanism;
• the provisions on transparency;
• the anchoring of the mitigation commitments and actions in the UN framework under both the Kyoto Protocol and the Convention;
• the process to increase the level of ambition of the commitments in order to hold the global temperature increase below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels.

But there is still a lot of work to do. There is an urgent need to reach and outcome in the UN framework by the end of next year; to this end, a clear EU strategy is needed.