In this heat, the South African registry proposal (September 30, 2008) is being picked up – by both sides – it would seem, but with a difference. The proposal calls for the following:

1. The UNFCCC secretariat would be requested to open a register for mitigation actions by developing countries;
2. Developing countries would voluntarily register nationally appropriate actions;
3. Parties registering mitigation actions would pledge to implement these actions in the context of specified support to enable implementation. The register would reflect the actions and not a list of countries.
4. The pledged action would be accepted by the international community for inclusion in the register giving recognition to its contribution to mitigation and sustainable development.
5. A toolbox of mitigation actions in developing countries from which they could choose would include:
1. Sustainable development policies and measures (SD-PAMS);
2. Reducing emissions from deforestation
3. Programmatic CDM
4. No lose sectoral crediting baselines

South Africa has proposed that countries can take a sustainable development policies and measures approach to development.

Today, in Poznan, it has been agreed that South Korea and South Africa will jointly work on a paper on the national registry for further discussions. The question now for developing countries, who see this as a slippery slope, is to ensure that the registry includes only those actions which will be supported by technology and finance. Otherwise, they fear, this could be a backhanded approach to get them to agree to put their full plan for mitigation up for international review – another name for verification of national targets.