It’s the penultimate day at COP23 – officially anyway; unofficially, I’m calling Saturday 2pm for the finish. I would be more surprised if COP finished on time than if it overran, particularly given that the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) closing plenary remains suspended at the time of writing. The reason? Finance, of course; specifically transparency in ex-ante (or projected) finance.

(However, it seems calls for transparency across the board have been taken seriously, with the text swollen to around 148 pages.)

But for IETA and our members, the main markets piece, relating to Article 6, was wrapped up yesterday, with the SBSTA 47 closing plenary adopting the final compromise conclusions, as per Tuesday’s wrap. The final texts can be viewed on the SBSTA 47 in-session documents page; Article 6 is item 11 on the agenda. 

I know it’s dry and a bit geeky, but we will go into more in our post-COP analysis. For now though, it’s worth noting that this is a good step and in line with what IETA was seeking here: the final text mandates the SBSTA Chair has to draft text ahead of the April/May meeting. Of course, anything goes once the Parties get their hands on it then, but we will keep a close eye on this next year as we get the first glimmers of the shape of the future markets.

Ministers and some Heads of State are in town, as the high-level segment got underway yesterday. So far, nothing surprising or controversial to report.

This is the last wrap from Bonn. A more detailed report will be distributed by Monday morning to all members. Thanks for reading and sticking with us!