UN Climate Change Conference in Bali

- The 13th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, which was also the 3rd meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, took place in Bali, Indonesia, on December 3-14, 2007. More than 10 000 persons attended this event which marked the 10th Anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol. The main challenge of this Conference was the definition of a procedure for negotiations for the "post-Kyoto" period, i.e. after 2012. The new factor was the decision of the newly elected Australian Prime Minister to ratify the Kyoto Protocol: Australia was, with the USA, one of the last countries to refuse to ratify the Protocol. However, the USA and the developing countries (including countries like China which will become the most important emitter of CO2 this year) have not accepted any commitment in terms of reduction of GHG emissions; some developed countries which have ratified the Kyoto Protocol (e.g. Canada) have considerably increased their emissions instead of reducing them. An agreement was difficult to reach with such conditions. The European Union has not totally met its commitments but its representatives, during the high-level segment, were determined to set ambitious emission reduction objectives, both for 2020 and 2050. After difficult negotiations, it was finally announced that the procedure to define new commitments after 2012 will begin next April and end in 2009. In between, the next UN Conference on Climate Change will take place in Poznan, Poland, on December 1-12, 2008. It will be held after the election of a new President of the USA and important declarations could take place on that occasion. However, an agreement is expected only in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the 2009 UN Conference on Climate Change will take place. Even if no precise engagements have been made during the Conference, it is likely that now four dates are important: .2009: beginning of an agreement for the post-Kyoto period; .2013: beginning of a post-Kyoto agreement, with differentiated obligations for developed and developing countries; .2020: date of reference for the achievement of the first new engagements; .2050: date of reference for the achievement of long-term engagements. - The IIR was very visible during this conference and made three contributions: .As an intergovernmental organization, it was able to deliver a statement during the high-level segment, with the presence of the delegations of all the countries (consult it: www.iifiir.org/en/notes.php?rub=2); .It ran a booth, where it disseminated various IIR publications and had discussions with attendees of the Conference; .It organized for the first time a side-event, focused on energy savings in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps. The new IIR guide (see page 2), edited by Forbes Pearson, was presented at this occasion. F. Pearson, D. Coulomb and J. L. Dupont, who represented the IIR at the Conference, also presented the refrigeration sector and its various environmental challenges and possible solutions, including both refrigerant emissions and energy consumption reductions, with reduction targets for refrigerating plants of 30% of refrigerant emissions and 20% of energy consumption by 2020. This side-event was very practical and was thus really appreciated.