Developing countries had a win at COP23 after difficulties arose when developed countries as well as Fiji, who was presiding over the conference, almost side-lined pre-2020 climate action negotiations in Bonn, Germany earlier this month.

The negotiations on whether rich countries were doing enough to meet their climate change commitments, and if they were providing finance to developing countries to buy green technologies, was finally discussed at the end of the conference, and now forms a major part of the COP23 decision agreement [2].

Prior to the conference however, the pre-2020 climate action (separate to the Paris Agreement commitments) was left off the COP23 agenda resulting in developing countries, including China and India, to formally request the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretary General to put it back on the table. Consequently, it was included as a supplement agenda item.

The pre-2020 agenda highlighted two main issues developing countries have. The first is over finance where developed countries agreed to provide $100 billion per annum to poorer countries as they promised to in 2009 in Copenhagen [3]; the second is that not enough countries have ratified the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol [4] to bring it into force.

Early in COP23, developing countries were further dismayed when Fiji, presiding over the negotiations, deferred pre-2020 discussions.

With all the focus on post-2020 of the Paris Agreement and the possibility of the pre-2020 climate action being side-lined, there was a protest by members of the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, which includes India and China. They called on countries opposed to the pre-2020 agenda to voice their objections during the COP23 open forum but that was quashed by Fiji.

Both India and China warned Fiji there would be no confidence in decisions taken and it would cause doubt and weaken trust in the climate change targets countries commit to at negotiations every year.

After dismissing developing countries demands, the developed countries in the end conceded to pressure and agreed to the inclusion of pre-2020 negotiations which forms a major part of the COP23 decision agreement leading up to the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

This Includes more stocktaking sessions to look at progress on reducing emissions in 2018 and 2019, and two climate finance assessments which will be published in 2018 and 2020. These assessments will be put together in a report on pre-2020 ambition prior to COP24, scheduled for December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.

Countries who have signed up to the Kyoto Protocol will be sent letters to ratify the Doha Amendment as soon as possible if they haven’t already done so.

Germany and the UK among several other European countries ratified the Amendment during COP23.