5 is the magic number
5 December 2014
Currently missing from the draft ADP decision text is one of the most important elements that needs to be agreed if Paris is to avoid locking us into a high carbon world until 2030.
Options for commitment period length, including the all-important 5 years, are rightly expressed in the ADP non-paper. However, the crucially important common implementation deadline of 2025 for the INDCs is currently missing from the draft decision text’s Annex on common elements for reporting on INDCs. A deadline of 2025 also needs to be included in the decision text itself; para 9 could be a suitable home.
As a complement to language on 2025 and 5-year commitment period cycles, the decision text should also request the IPCC to produce an assessment report with a 5-year time cycle so as to provide the most up-to-date information to inform each round of commitments.
Since INDCs are presumably the basis for the first commitment period, the absence of this common element could lead to a free-for-all that would make a multilateral effort to avoid the worst impacts of climate change far more difficult.