Earth Negotiations Bulletin

The Bangkok Climate Change Conference focused on operationalizing the Paris Agreement through the PAWP, covering mitigation, adaptation, finance, and transparency. While some technical progress was made in streamlining negotiating texts, overall progress was characterized as "uneven," with significant deadlocks remaining over climate finance (Article 9.5) and the principle of differentiation in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

• The conference resulted in a 307-page "Bangkok outcome" compilation of progress across nearly 20 substantive agenda items, though many delegates described the overall progress as "uneven" and the pace of work as "too slow."
• A major point of contention regarding mitigation was the scope of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Developing countries, particularly the Like-minded Developing Countries (LMDCs), argued for "full scope" NDCs including adaptation and finance, while developed countries maintained that NDCs are primarily a mitigation mechanism.
• Negotiations on climate finance under Article 9.5 reached a deadlock. Developing countries, led by the African Group, demanded parallel discussions on both the information to be provided and the modalities for communicating it to ensure predictability, whereas developed countries preferred to identify the information first.
• Parties worked to develop a transparency framework under Article 13, but disagreements emerged over whether to include information on loss and damage as an objective and how to reflect flexibility for certain developing countries.
• Regarding the global stocktake (Article 14), parties debated the role of equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), with some developed countries arguing that equity should not be a stand-alone part of the technical assessment phase.
• Efforts to operationalize Article 6 market and non-market mechanisms saw parties diverge on the validity of Kyoto Protocol units under the new mechanism, with some arguing they would erode NDC ambition.
• On the issue of the Adaptation Fund, parties discussed governance and institutional arrangements to allow the Fund to serve the Paris Agreement, including the need for a transitional period and the composition of the Adaptation Fund Board.
• The conference concluded with a mandate for Presiding Officers to prepare a joint reflections note by mid-October 2018, including textual proposals to facilitate the completion of the PAWP at COP 24 in Katowice.

APA

Verkuijl, C., Allan, J., Browne, K., Cosbey, A., Jones, N., Worth, K., & Chasek, P. (2018). Earth Negotiations Bulletin. International Institute for Sustainable Development. http://enb.iisd.org/download/pdf/enb12733e.pdf

Chicago

Verkuijl, Cleo, Jennifer Allan, Katherine Browne, Aaron Cosbey, Natalie Jones, Kiara Worth, and Pamela Chasek. Earth Negotiations Bulletin. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2018. http://enb.iisd.org/download/pdf/enb12733e.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{verkuijl2018earth, author = {Verkuijl, Cleo and Allan, Jennifer and Browne, Katherine and Cosbey, Aaron and Jones, Natalie and Worth, Kiara and Chasek, Pamela}, title = {{Earth Negotiations Bulletin}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2018}, month = sep, url = {http://enb.iisd.org/download/pdf/enb12733e.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }