Briefing Paper

Shaping the Durban Platform: Latin America and the Caribbean in a future High Ambition Deal

“After the longest session on record,
governments at the COP17 in Durban in
December 2011 agreed to negotiate by 2015
a climate deal to enter into force in 2020. The Durban Platform for enhanced Action defied predictions that the meeting in South Africa would lead to a collapse of the UN climate talks. Many parties from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have worked many years to make possible the political compromise achieved in the final hours and included in the Durban Platform. Today, the challenge is to make this platform ambitious enough to avoid dangerous climate change. In this policy brief, we discuss these outcomes, the contribution LAC made, and the implications of the Durban Platform for the region. We end by offering a set of recommendations.”