ICCA Panel of Experts to Develop a Paris Agreement Conciliation Annex

The ICCA Panel of Experts to Develop a Paris Agreement Conciliation Annex convenes a high-level panel of experts to develop and promote a proposed draft conciliation annex for the Paris Climate Agreement (the Paris Agreement) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with a view to facilitating its adoption by Member States.

 

The high-level Panel brings together experts drawn from private practice, the judiciary, government, arbitral institutions, academia and international organizations, all of whom have expertise in disputes (especially conciliation processes) in the specific context of climate change.

 

The project stems from the urgent need to establish an effective dispute resolution procedure under the Paris Agreement. Article 14 of the UNFCCC, which is adopted mutatis mutandis in Article 24 of the Paris Agreement, provides that, absent agreement among States to submit disputes to the International Court of Justice or arbitration, the default dispute resolution mechanism is inter-State conciliation. Only a handful of Member States have so far consented to submitting disputes to the International Court of Justice or arbitration, making conciliation the likely dispute resolution mechanism in a dispute under the Paris Agreement’s terms. Article 14 provides certain details on the conciliation process but leaves most procedures to be adopted in an annex on conciliation. 

 

The Panel of Experts’ mandate, with ICCA’s leadership and support, is to prepare a draft conciliation annex that clarifies important procedural questions, taking account of the objectives of the Paris Agreement, as well as the likely characteristics of disputes concerning climate change.  The draft will be accompanied by commentary designed to serve as useful guidance for Member States negotiating a conciliation annex. The Panel hopes to present its draft conciliation annex in time for inclusion on the agenda for discussion at COP 28 in November 2023.

 

View the Paris Agreement

 

View the UNFCCC

Co-chairs of the Panel of Experts