Mitigation: The Mitigation Work Programme

This explainer introduces climate change mitigation, from the science to the treaty framework, with a focus on the Sharm el-Sheikh Mitigation Ambition and Implementation Work Programme (MWP). It sets out how the science of the carbon budget underpins mitigation, and how the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement have approached it. It then examines the MWP in detail: its origin and mandate, how it works, and the main issues in the negotiations on its future, with a comparative table of Parties’ positions and options. It also explains how mitigation connects with the global stocktake, the work of the IPCC, the Convention on Biological Diversity and discussions on transitioning away from fossil fuels.