After a very slow process last year, ECO is happy to see that the pace of the negotiations for NDC guidelines has picked up over the last two weeks. If negotiators can keep up the good spirit that we experienced here in Bonn, the guidelines might be ready for take-off. Together with the other parts of the Paris Agreement Work Programme, the negotiations should reach Katowice, after a short layover in Bangkok, with a valuable cargo of draft NDC guidelines. These guidelines will help countries develop better, more ambitious NDCs that will also enable sustainable development and poverty reduction, and help them step into a low emission future.
ECO will stand by and hope to watch from the ground how the negotiations are flying during the coming months. While we certainly hope for flying progress, and not a return to the bumpy road we have followed before, we would like to draw your attention to the safety features of the NDCs guidelines. The NDC features should ensure sustainability, respect for human rights and indigenous peoples, as well as preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. The accounting rules should enable the inclusion of the many important small-scale solutions and they should give a transparent picture of how each NDC will contribute to the objectives of the Paris Agreement. With such guidelines, the NDCs really will have a chance to fly. And then ECO will take the train home from Katowice to celebrate the result.