Synthesis of UNFCCC Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico
29 November – 10 December 2010
Overall Summary
Governments met in Cancun, Mexico, from 29th November until 10th December 2010, for the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the 6th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP6). As a result of extensive negotiations, the COP and CMP adopted the Cancun Agreement—a set of decisions that will eventually lead to a new post-Kyoto regime and a new treaty. The Cancun decisions set in place the working groups and committees to develop the details of the institutional mechanisms that were established in Cancun to deal with adaptation, mitigation, financing, technology transfer, REDD+ and capacity building.
A major part of the success in Cancun can be attributed to the Mexican Government. Their tireless efforts before and during the meeting, as well as their diplomatic skills, consultations, and respect for transparency, made this conference the COP where the corner was turned and the negotiations within the UN framework were again seen as providing useful outcomes.
The Negotiation Process
Following the Copenhagen summit in December 2009, many governments expressed a loss of faith and trust in the multilateral climate negotiations. Through extensive consultations during 2010, the Government of Mexico was able to effectively rebuild the confidence of nearly all governments and the Cancun summit has been widely hailed by governments as generating a new momentum in the negotiations process. Under the leadership of the Government of Mexico, parties felt the negotiations were conducted in an inclusive, transparent, and trust-building way. In particular, the involvement of Ministers in Cancun managed to balance political guidance with transparency. Ministers were requested to convene in working groups on specific issues open to all delegations. These groups then reported their progress to the formal negotiating sessions allowing Mexico to compile them into a party-driven decision text that was adopted.
In the final adoption process, however, the COP President—HE Patricia Espinosa, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mexico—was met with opposition from one member state, which expressed strong concerns over environmental integrity and the outlook for the Kyoto Protocol. Previously under the UNFCCC, the customary understanding of “consensus decision-making” has been that if one country does not agree with one item, no decisions were adopted and negotiations continued. However, the COP has never formally accepted firm rules or procedure for decision-making. In Cancun, despite strong objection from one party, the COP—under the leadership of Minister Espinosa—adopted the Cancun decisions, and so overturned for the common operational procedure in the UN system that decisions can only be taken by consensus. Although the COP did formally note opposition, the decisions were adopted on the understanding that one country could not “veto” a deal that is supported by all other governments. Cancun therefore sets a new precedent for international climate negotiations—one in which opposition from one party is not necessarily able to derail negotiations. The consequences of this precedent will become clear in the future, no doubt through discussions about what constitutes majority consensus.
The session concluded at around 6am on Saturday 11th December. Almost all governments expressed a renewed energy to build on Cancun and continue working in the same spirit together next year towards COP17/CMP7 in Durban, South Africa. It is important to note in this regard the active role and participation of China and India in the negotiations in Cancun, as well as the collaborative positions of the US, BASIC countries and Venezuela. Indeed, in his closing remarks, Indian Environment Minister Ramesh, supported by a standing ovation, proclaimed “we have restored the confidence of the international community in this process and in multilateralism. This Cancun outcome gives us the confidence to look ahead and take on climate change together.”
The Outcome
The Cancun outcome is made up of a “balanced package of decisions” under the two-track Bali Road Map. Although not a treaty, the decisions are formal agreements under the COP and CMP, and many governments from across regional groupings hailed this package as laying the foundation for a post-2012 climate regime. The decisions cover both the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol negotiating tracks. Under the Convention is a comprehensive set of decisions, including all parties, which set up a wide variety of new instruments, mechanisms, and processes under the UNFCCC. The agreement reaffirms that negotiations will continue on with the goal of codifying a new treaty in the future. Decisions taken under the Kyoto Protocol complement this by agreeing to continue work, with a view to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol for relevant parties in 2013. To note is that the commitments declared thus far in both tracks fall short of ensuring that the temperature rise remains below 2 C by 2050.
Importantly from a development policy perspective, the Cancun package affirms “that addressing climate change requires a paradigm shift towards building a low-carbon society that offers substantial opportunities and ensures continued high growth and sustainable development.” Indeed, the entire agreement is infused by statements that stress the importance of sustainable development and poverty eradication. This is a welcome development for the UN/DP. Indeed, many sentences resemble UNDP discussion papers and messages.
On specific operational issues, there are few references in the package to any organizations, including the UN. The World Bank is named as the interim trustee of the Green Climate Fund and a new independent secretariat will be set up to govern the new fund. Details of the delivery of finance will be determined in 2011. The Group of 77 and China have always argued that the fund warrants a new organization, while a number of developed countries have always argued that the fund should be under the purview of the World Bank. 2011 will therefore be a crucial year for the UN to define its role in the climate regime as details of the institutional issues on the fund—and indeed many other operational issues—are elaborated.
Detailed analysis of the Cancun package can be found in the sections below with special emphasis on the adopted text that is relevant to UNDP.
UNDP in Cancun
Overall, this was a good COP for UNDP, with high visibility and an active delegation. In addition to supporting delegations’ requests for technical assistance and discussion on various elements of the negotiations, UNDP delegates were involved in identifying the policy and programming implications of the parties’ positions and decisions taken as they evolved. UNDP also participated in a number of successful outreach activities, including bilateral discussions and over 50 side events.
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark headed the delegation on the 7th and 8th of December. The Administrator participated in the One-UN high-level side event that showcased the UN’s collective work on climate change as well as in a number of other side events. She conducted numerous high-level bilateral meetings and press briefings. The Administrator participated in a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Grenada (on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States), Denmark’s Minister for Climate, Energy and Gender Equality, and World Bank President Robert Zoellick to announce a new US$14.5 million partnership for supporting renewable energy in small island developing states.
UNDP’s participation in side events was extensive, often serving as a host, panelist or participant in events addressing capacity building, gender, migration, REDD+ and CDM. A summary of UNDP’s engagement with these events will be forthcoming.
Technical Analysis of Outcomes
Mitigation
The Cancun package does not present clear definitions on the second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol. However, in Cancun, governments committed to working toward this and to avoiding a gap between the first and second commitment periods. The Kyoto Protocol decision does, however, note the mitigation pledges to be submitted under the Cancun decision under the Convention, and reaffirms that the Kyoto mechanisms (e.g. Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation, Adaptation Fund) remain active and available to Kyoto parties.
Under the Cancun decision on long-term cooperative action, a new regime for mitigation actions and reporting has been created. This outline of this new regime is detailed in the agreement and will be further developed in 2011. This has many implications for development policy and UNDP programming, including:
• Developed countries will submit detailed information on their pledges and proposed actions to the Secretariat. These actions will be subject to international monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), subject to the development of new guidelines in 2011. Initially these submissions will be comprised of those already communicated to the Secretariat since Copenhagen.
• As per the Bali Action Plan, developing countries will also now undertake mitigation actions under the UNFCCC process.
• The Cancun Agreement “encourages governments to prepare low-carbon development strategies in the context of sustainable development”. Moreover, “developing countries will undertake nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) in the context of sustainable development”. At this stage, the agreement contains no details on what will constitute a NAMA; however, it requests the UNFCCC Secretariat to organize a workshop as soon as possible to understand the variety of NAMA definitions, as well as the relationship between strategies and NAMAs.
• Decides that developed country parties will provide financial, technological and capacity building support for preparation of NAMAs and enhanced reporting, probably through the new fund (see below).
• The agreement invites developing parties to voluntarily submit information on their NAMAs to the Secretariat, as was done by many developing countries after Copenhagen. Initially the Secretariat will compile this information into a document; however, the agreement also creates a “registry” to be managed by the Secretariat that will house this information.

• The registry will list NAMAs seeking international support, support available from parties, and support provided for NAMAs. In a separate section, domestic unsupported NAMAs will be listed. The Secretariat will regularly update the registry.
• For NAMAs that receive international support, international measurement, reporting and verification of actions will take place. Guidelines and modalities for this will be elaborated in 2011.
• For those NAMAs that are not internationally supported, developing countries will undertake domestic MRV and report their actions through new, enhanced national communications every four years. In addition, countries will be required to submit biennial reports that include GHG inventories and information on mitigation actions, needs and support received. These biennial reports will then be subject to International Consultation and Analysis (ICA) by experts in consultation with the country concerned. Again, guidelines will be developed for domestic MRV and new national communication/biennial report methodologies in 2011. Financial support for these activities will continue to be provided under the Convention funds.

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