The Copenhagen Accord includes provision to review the implementation of the Accord by 2015, having regard to the ultimate goal of the UNFCCC. One of the matters to be addressed by the review is considering strengthening the long‐term goal of the Accord, having regard to scientific evidence, including warming scenarios of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

To date, Parties have consistently referenced limiting warming to below 2 degrees. This is partly because the reference scenarios that have been prepared and included in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report have only been able to assess limiting GHG concentrations to 450ppm and temperature increases to 2 degrees. Having regard to this limitation, AOSIS requested, at the AWG‐KP meeting in Vienna in August 2007, that further studies on lower warming scenarios be considered when scientific evidence was available. This request was repeated in AWG‐KP conclusions in Bali in December 2007.

Because the Accord was not formally adopted by the CoP, there is currently no mechanism to operationalise the review or to otherwise prepare inputs into the review. This paper looks at ways to progress consideration of the 1.5 degree warming scenarios.