What are the challenges facing COP 21 CMP 11 in 2015?

The meeting will mark a decisive stage in negotiations on the future international agreement on a post-2020 regime, and will, as agreed in Durban, adopt the major outlines of that regime.

By the end of the meeting, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, all the nations of the world, including the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, will be bound by a universal agreement on climate.

In order for the agreement to come into effect in 2020, at the end of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, subsequent COP meetings will work on finalising its details. The Presidency of the COP plays a vital role, not only during the actual COP meeting (in reality, a series of meetings held in parallel over a two-week period), but also in the organisation of a number of meetings held in preparation for the COP.

What prompted France’s offer to host COP 21 CMP11?

The annual Conference is hosted on a rotating basis by a country from one of the five recognised UN regions: Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe Group, Latin American and the Caribbean, Western Europe and Others and Africa.

Once the host group is determined on this rotating basis, the choice of host country is made within the group. In 2015, it will be the turn of the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) to host and preside over the Conference. In May 2013, WEOG chose France as its proposed host, and the offer was duly submitted to the Doha Climate Change Conference.

In order to fulfil its responsibilities, France will continue to play an active role and will gradually step up its contributions to the negotiations in the years ahead. France already has one of the lowest levels of per capita greenhouse gas emissions of any of the developed countries.

Furthermore, France is laying the groundwork for its own ecological and energy transition towards a future of low carbon consumption and climate change resilience. France will continue to work with its partners, and with the developing countries in particular, through its development cooperation and in conjunction with COP Presidencies past and future.

Alongside its European partners, France will make every effort to remain at the forefront in tackling the challenge of climate change. In his opening speech to a keynote 2012 environmental conference in France, the French President declared that France would argue for an ambitious target of a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 and of 60% by 2040 (from 1990 levels) at upcoming European talks. He also pledged that, during his five-year term of office, France would engage in real environmental diplomacy.

Updated: 22.05.13