Good news from our GST sports correspondent, the GST half time at COP27 ended quite positively. ECO wants to thank the co-facilitators of the technical dialog for conducting this session with improvements since Bonn. The dialogue was very inclusive and allowed interactive discussions. ECO can also report that Parties (players) are motivated to kick-off the second half!
The GST second half during the year 2023 is crucial and will be more challenging: our football team has to score goals by defining the political outcomes of this first GST.
As a strong motivated referee who was on the field during the entire game thus far, ECO also wants to highlight the following:
RED CARDS SHOULD BE GIVEN FOR FALSE SOLUTIONS: ECO was alarmed to hear some statements during the GST roundtables and world café station. The mandate of the Global Stocktake is to rely on the best science available. It is not about defending political and economic priorities over what climate science is telling us, especially the IPCC. ECO cannot hear, cannot accept, in this UNFCCC context, statements arguing to develop solutions with high risks to human rights or those that are unproven at scale, and that prolong fossil fuel dependency. These false solutions go against the rules and principles of the Global Stocktake being people centred. False solutions not in line with the best available climate science should be given Red Cards and removed from the GST game. We have very few years left to save billions of lives; we have no time for these risky and false solutions. The Global Stocktake should be about real solutions, such as rapidly reducing emissions through fossil fuel phaseout, decreasing energy demand, scaling up renewable energy, implemented in inclusive ways that also help local energy access and sustainable development.
EXTRA TIME: ECO welcomes the will of Parties to start discussions on the political outcome of the Global Stocktake and the draft conclusion text that proposes extra time to achieve the political goals of the GST. This is crucial to have a real impact, ensuring that the next NDCs are in line with the objective to stay below 1.5°C, and are rights-based. We need this extra time and the two proposed workshops sound like a minimum.
CONTINUED INCLUSION OF REFEREES: A GST without civil society would be like a football game without referees. The additional GST discussions and workshops should be inclusive and build on the good practices of the technical dialogue, with opportunities for meaningful and substantive participation of civil society who will hold Parties accountable and help implement enhanced NDCs informed by the GST outputs. ECO is concerned to hear talk that may ultimately result in the exclusion of civil society from the political phase of the GST. This would be like playing the second half of a football match without referees and players could engage in dangerous and foul play without being penalised.
The challenging second half of the GST match for the planet has kicked off. As ECO highlighted in a previous article, it is important for Parties to play their best game with referees ensuring fair and good play and win this GST match for the planet to secure the most ambitious climate action and a liveable planet for the years to come. Players have to be motivated, because referees are, more than ever!