Negotiations get underway in earnest

The two contact groups set up under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiating track and Kyoto protocol negotiating track have been split into eleven and five sub-groups respectively, all of which are due to report back this evening.

The eleven sub-groups under the UNFCCC track are:

1) Long-term shared vision
2) Financing
3) Mitigation for all countries
4) Matching mitigation in developing countries with support from developed countries
5) Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and land Degradation (REDD)
6) Market mechanisms e.g. emissions trading
7) Adaptation
8) Technology
9) Capacity-building
10) Response measures e.g. border-tax adjustments
11) Bunker fuels

The five sub-groups under the Kyoto protocol track are:

1) Emission reduction targets for developed countries
2) Other issues
3) Potential consequences – impact of developed countries' mitigation policies on developing countries
4) Mechanisms i.e. emissions trading – the clean development mechanism (CDM) and joint implementation (JI)
5) Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF)