Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action

The Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action, commonly abbreviated AWG-LCA, was a temporary negotiating body established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. Its creation formed part of the Bali Road Map, the political and procedural package intended to guide international climate negotiations toward a comprehensive post-2012 arrangement. The group was established by Decision 1/CP.13, the Bali Action Plan. Unlike the separate Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol, which focused on additional commitments for developed-country parties under the Kyoto framework, the AWG-LCA operated under the Convention and addressed a broader set of issues involving both developed and developing countries. Its mandate covered enhanced action on mitigation, adaptation, technology development and transfer, financing, and a shared long-term vision for climate cooperation. On mitigation, the process considered nationally appropriate mitigation commitments or actions by developed countries and nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing countries. It also examined cooperative sectoral approaches, sector-specific measures, and ways to strengthen the catalytic role of the Convention. The Bali Action Plan recognized the need for deep reductions in global greenhouse-gas emissions, while leaving the precise legal form, allocation of responsibilities, and numerical commitments to subsequent negotiations. Adaptation was another central area. The group addressed enhanced international cooperation to support vulnerable developing countries, including implementation of National Adaptation Programmes of Action, financing for adaptation, capacity-building, and institutional arrangements. The technology pillar considered mechanisms to remove barriers to the development and transfer of affordable, environmentally sound technologies, including renewable-energy technologies, as well as cooperation on research, development, deployment, and diffusion. The finance discussions concerned predictable and sustainable resources for developing countries, additional public and concessional finance, incentives for mitigation and adaptation, innovative funding sources, and the mobilization of investment. Forest-related measures, including approaches associated with reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries, were also part of the wider Bali process. The AWG-LCA was expected initially to complete its work in 2009, alongside the Kyoto Protocol working group, so that its outcome could be considered at the Copenhagen conference. Negotiations remained unresolved at Copenhagen and continued through later UN climate conferences, including Cancun. The group ultimately completed its mandated work in the Doha phase of the UNFCCC negotiations, after which its functions were carried forward through newer negotiating arrangements and institutions. It did not operate as a commercial brand, company, or membership organization; it was an intergovernmental negotiating forum whose outputs consisted of draft conclusions, negotiating texts, and recommendations for consideration by the Conference of the Parties.

The AWG-LCA emerged from the diplomatic settlement reached at the thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Bali in December 2007. The Bali conference adopted the Bali Road Map, a package that set out a negotiating process for strengthening international climate cooperation. Its central political component, the Bali Action Plan, was adopted as Decision 1/CP.13. The decision established the AWG-LCA as a subsidiary negotiating body under the Convention and assigned it a wide mandate covering mitigation, adaptation, technology, finance, and a shared long-term vision. The group was designed to complement, rather than replace, the AWG-KP. The latter dealt with further quantified emission-reduction commitments by developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol. The AWG-LCA instead addressed the broader architecture of climate action under the Convention, including possible actions by developing countries and the relationship between national measures and international support. This division reflected the effort to develop a comprehensive arrangement while preserving the separate legal tracks of the Convention and Kyoto Protocol. Its substantive agenda followed the pillars identified in the Bali Action Plan. Mitigation discussions included developed-country commitments or actions, developing-country nationally appropriate mitigation actions, sectoral cooperation, and the measurement, reporting, and verification of action and support. The group also considered reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, a strand of work commonly associated with REDD-plus. Adaptation discussions examined support for countries particularly vulnerable to climate impacts, including planning, finance, capacity-building, and implementation of adaptation programmes. Technology and finance were closely linked to the developing-country negotiating position. Parties considered how to accelerate the development, deployment, diffusion, and transfer of environmentally sound technologies, remove institutional and economic barriers, and improve research cooperation. Finance discussions addressed predictable and sustainable resources, public and concessional funding, incentives for mitigation and adaptation, innovative sources of finance, and the mobilization of climate-compatible investment. The original political timetable envisaged completion in 2009 and consideration of the result at the Copenhagen conference. The negotiations did not resolve the principal disagreements over legal form, differentiation of responsibilities, mitigation ambition, financing, transparency, and the balance among the different agenda areas. The AWG-LCA therefore continued its work after Copenhagen and was instructed to report to later sessions, including the Cancun conference. Its work contributed to the continuing development of the UN climate regime, but it did not itself become a permanent institution or a standalone treaty body. After further negotiations, the ad hoc process was closed in the Doha phase of the UNFCCC process, with relevant work transferred to successor arrangements and broader negotiations. The AWG-LCA is consequently best understood as a time-limited diplomatic mechanism rather than a commercial organization or enduring brand.

• 2010

  Mandate extended into the Cancun process

  [1]Bali Road Mapen.wikipedia.org

  The AWG-LCA was asked to continue reporting to the sixteenth Conference of the Parties in Cancun after the incomplete Copenhagen outcome.

• 2009

  Original deadline reaches the Copenhagen conference

  [1]Bali Road Mapen.wikipedia.org

  The group presented negotiating material in the Copenhagen process, but major issues remained unresolved and the work was continued.

• 2007

  Established through the Bali Action Plan

  [1]Bali Road Mapen.wikipedia.org

  The thirteenth UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Bali adopted Decision 1/CP.13, establishing the AWG-LCA as part of the Bali Road Map.

A broad, Convention-based negotiating track for developing a long-term international climate framework involving all categories of UNFCCC parties.

• Climate-governance framework · 2007

  Bali Action Plan process

  The central negotiating programme associated with the AWG-LCA. It organized discussions around a shared long-term vision, mitigation by developed and developing countries, adaptation, technology development and transfer, and financial resources and investment.

• Diplomatic working documents · 2008

  AWG-LCA negotiating texts

  Draft conclusions, negotiating text, and recommendations prepared for consideration by the Conference of the Parties. These documents recorded areas of convergence and disagreement rather than functioning as commercial products.

• 2007

  Creation of the Convention negotiating trackStrategy

  Background

  The Bali Road Map required a broad negotiating process capable of addressing climate action by both developed and developing countries under the UNFCCC.

  Action taken

  The Conference of the Parties established the AWG-LCA through the Bali Action Plan and assigned it work on mitigation, adaptation, technology, finance, and long-term cooperation.

  Aftermath

  The group became one of the principal negotiating tracks leading into Copenhagen and later UN climate conferences.

  Source

1. 1Bali Road Mapen.wikipedia.org