**The Cancun Agreements**
The sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the
sixth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the
Parties to the Kyoto Protocol took place in Cancun and was hosted by the
Government of Mexico. Also sitting were the thirty-third sessions of the
Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for
Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), the fifteenth session of the Ad
hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto
Protocol (AWG-KP), and the thirteenth session of the Ad hoc Working Group on
Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA).
The Cancun Climate Change Conference drew almost 12,000 participants,
including 5,200 government officials, 5,400 representatives of UN bodies and
agencies, intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations,
and 1,270 accredited members of the media.
The meeting produced the basis for the most comprehensive and far-reaching
international response to climate change the world had ever seen to reduce
carbon emissions and build a system which made all countries accountable to
each other for those reductions. Here is the overview of the **Cancun
Agreements** , and here are the **Cancun Agreements decisions** in full.
Among the highlights, Parties agreed:
* to commit to **a maximum temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius** above pre-industrial levels, and to consider lowering that maximum to 1.5 degrees in the near future.
* to make fully operational by 2012 a **technology mechanism** to boost the innovation, development and spread of new climate-friendly technologies;
* to establish a **Green Climate Fund** to provide financing to projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing countries via thematic funding windows;
* on the **Cancun Adaptation Framework** , which included setting up an Adaptation Committee to promote the implementation of stronger, cohesive action on adaptation.
On the **mitigation** front, developed countries submitted economy-wide
emission reduction targets and agreed on strengthened reporting frequency and
standards and to develop low-carbon national plans and strategies. Developing
countries submitted nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs), to be
implemented subject to financial and technical support. Work continued on
shaping the form and functions of a registry for NAMAs to enable the matching
of such actions with finance and technology. Developing countries were also
encouraged to develop low-carbon national plans and strategies.
Work also progressed on **reducing emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation (REDD)** , boosting **capacity-building** in developing countries,
and how to deal with any consequences of response measures to action on
climate change. Governments also agreed to include carbon capture and storage
(CCS) in the projects under the **Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)** ,
subject to technical and safety standards.
**A note on the gaps**
By agreeing on a maximum two degrees Celsius temperature rise, countries sent
the strongest signal ever that there would be shift towards a low-carbon
global economy. However, all pledges put forward by governments came to a
combined total of only 60% of the emission reductions needed for a 50% chance
of keeping temperatures below that goal. And the conference left the future of
the Kyoto Protocol unresolved, which also left open the question of the fate
of the international carbon market.
**"The** **secretariat is pleased to be working with the Mexican government in
preparation for COP16/CMP6 where firm steps must be taken to respond to the
climate challenge."**
_Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary UNFCCC _Read biography
**"With political will and a pragmatic outlook, Cancun can be the beginning of
a new era of agreements on climate change."**
_Patricia Espinosa,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and incoming President of COP 16/CMP 6
_Read biography