COP23 - 23rd conference on climate change

As the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) regularly provides scientific and technical advice for the development and implementation of EU policy on climate action.

In this capacity, two JRC experts will advise the EU's delegation to COP23, the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

JRC will also organise side events on different thematic areas, which will be held at the EU Pavilion.

JRC's staff will engage in expert panels of other organizations' events to contribute to the scientific and technical discussions on climate action.

Programme

The European Union Pavilion will host a series of side events during the COP 23

The full programme and more information on EU side events can be found on the page of the European Commission Directorate General Climate Action (DG CLIMA)

EU side events with JRC contibutions

Enhancing the impact of the Paris Agreement through stronger linkages to the Sustainable Development Goals

10:00 – 11:30, Room Tallinn, EU Pavilion, Bonn Zone

• Co-organised with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) - The Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement set out very clear and ambitioius global goals across social, economic and environmental areas. The event will discuss synergies and trade-offs between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, showing possible ways to achieve multiple goals simultaneously using integrative and systemic methodological approaches.

The interaction of global climate change policies and air pollution

16:00 – 17:30, Room Tallinn, EU Pavilion, Bonn Zone

• This event explores how policies can be approached to tackle multiple sustainable development goals, in particular SDGs 'Climate Change' and 'Good Health and Well-being', and to avoid the corresponding economic damages. The health and economic impacts of air pollution are estimated to increase in the future, while climate change mitigation policies to attain the Paris Agreement can have the knock-on co-benefit of reducing air pollution. In particular, global air quality co-benefits can fully and instantly compensate the possible economic costs associated with a shift towards a low-carbon economy. Tackling air pollution and climate strategies jointly in an integrated policy reduces the risk of technological lock-in that may arise if either problem is considered alone with narrow technological solutions.

• Related Publication

  Kitous, A., Keramidas, K., Vandyck, T., Saveyn, B., Van Dingenen, R., Spadaro, J., Holland, M., Global Energy and Climate Outlook 2017: How climate policies improve air quality - Global energy trends and ancillary benefits of the Paris Agreement, EUR 28798 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2017, ISBN 978-92-79-73864-7, doi:10.2760/474356, JRC107944

The role of forests in the Paris Agreement: from global to local

10:00 – 12:00, Room Tallin, EU Pavilion, Bonn Zone

• The event will address the role of forests in contributing to climate mitigation.

  Starting from the global level, this side event will illustrate the role of forests in the global carbon budget and the expected contribution of forests in meeting countries’ National Determined Contributions.

  The side event will then move to a more local level, starting from the debate over forest and forest-based resources in the European Union (EU), with examples of Climate-Smart Forestry at regional/local level, then illustrating the Polish experience on forest carbon farms and finally presenting results from measurements of CO₂ exchange in intact and disturbed pine forest.

• Related Publication

  Giacomo Grassi, Jo House, Frank Dentener, Sandro Federici, Michel den Elzen and Jim Penman, The key role of forests in meeting climate target requires science for credible mitigation, Nature Climate Change, Vol 7, March 2017

Progress in monitoring forest degradation - perspectives from the Sentinels for REDD+

18:00 – 19:30, Room Tallinn, EU Pavilion, Bonn Zone

• Co-organised with European Space Agency (ESA), European Commission Directorates General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO), Climate Action (DG CLIMA) - The event will address the need for national forest monitoring systems to report countries’ efforts for REDD+ activities.

  This side event will share experience from pilot projects from the European Union and the European Space Agency, supporting the development of monitoring systems (e.g. ReCaREDD and EOMonDIS).

  National pilot cases will illustrate the recent progresses made by a few REDD+ countries (Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Rep of Congo, and Malawi) in the use of satellite data for measuring changes in forest cover which are leading to decrease in carbon stocks within forests. Moreover the side event will raise awareness of the Copernicus Programme which provides free access to high spatial resolution data from the Sentinel satellites.

Coherence between climate change adaption and disaster risk reduction

16:45 – 18:15, Room Tallinn, EU Pavilion, Bonn Zone

• Co-organised with the European Environment Agency (EEA) - The JRC will contribute to the discussion by presenting the state of science for Disaster Risk Reduction based on a recent report on the best available knowledge regarding risk assessment and risk communication, across many hazards and throughout the entire disaster risk management cycle.

• Related Publication

  Poljanšek, K., Marín Ferrer, M., De Groeve, T., Clark, I. (Eds.), 2017. Science for disaster risk management 2017: knowing better and losing less. EUR 28034 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, ISBN 978-92-79-60678-6, doi: 10.2788/688605, JRC102482

JRC speaking engagements at non-EU events

Unlocking the potential of soil organic carbon for climate change action

12:00 - 13:30, Bonn

• Organised by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) - In the framework of the Agriculture Action Day of the Marrakesh Partnership for Global Climate Action, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has invited the JRC to be part of an expert panel with representatives from diverse UN agencies and the European Commission.

COP 23 Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action – Forests Day

10:00 – 19:00, Room 5 (TBC), EU Pavilion, Bonn Zone

• The event will highlight the potential of the forest and land sector for achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement towards a 1.5 degree and climate resilient world. The JRC will be part of the high-level panel to discuss the scientific basis of forests as a key climate solution, to be highlighted in the upcoming IPCC special report on climate change and land.

"4 for 1000" day

08:30 - 18:30, Stadthalle Bad Godesberg, Bonn

• The JRC has been invited to be part of the high-level segment of the 4 for 1000 day, where results of the first one year and a half from the launch of the Initiative will be presented. JRC presentation will address the value of agriculture and forestry as contributing elements to the solution to climate change with win-win outcomes.

Background

Governments and members to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will convene from 6 to 17 November 2017 at the World Conference Centre in Bonn, Germany, under the Presidency of Fiji, to discuss how to bring forward global climate action.

The Conference will also serve as the 13th session of the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP13) and the second meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1-2), entered into force in November 2016.

The international negotiations will focus on defining the implementation guidelines to make the Paris Agreement operational and on designing a Facilitative Dialogue to jointly discuss how to achieve its ambitious objectives.

In addition to the negotiation track, Parties, non-Party stakeholders and the UNFCCC secretariat will host side events and exhibits to showcase and mobilize global climate action.