Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment he has made of the outcome of the most recent Bonn Climate Change Conference; and if he will make a statement.

The Bonn Climate Change Intersessional Conference is not expected to finish until 15 June, so we will not have a concrete assessment of the session until then. The meeting is a mid-year one to pave the way for the Lima Conference of the Parties (COP) in December. This meeting in Bonn will focus on negotiations on the new global climate change deal that will be agreed in 2015, on work to enhance emissions reductions efforts in the years to 2020, when the new deal will come into effect, and to continue to progress the UN climate regime's subsidiary agenda, covering rules, mechanisms, reporting and other areas implementing past decisions.

Even though there won't be an outcome, we want the meeting in Bonn to focus on technical and practical discussions to pave the way for countries to bring forward, in early 2015, their contributions to the new Agreement and to make progress towards agreeing in Lima draft elements of a negotiating text - these are important milestones for the 2015 agreement.

As we are not expecting any outcomes, I don't anticipate the need to make a statement.