Category: Previous Issues Articles

What’s at the heart of the Paris Agreement? For ECO, it is the NDCs. In Katowice, Parties discussed many topics related to the structure and content of NDCs and reached agreement on some items, such as the information necessary for clarity, transparency, and understanding. However, there’s a glaring gap – what will be the time periods for the NDCs? 

Yes, Parties agreed to apply common time frames for those NDCs to be implemented from 2031 onward. But the most important outstanding issue – the length of the time frames — is still outstanding! Given the range of divergent views, ECO knew Parties wouldn’t agree on that substantive issue here but hoped that Parties would at least be able to set a deadline for a decision. Alas, no decision…!

ECO reminds delegates that a substantive outcome on this issue in Santiago is necessary. Planning an NDC can be a lengthy process and it is crucial that Parties know early on what the timeframe is going to be. There is no reason to delay a decision. Let’s be honest, we all procrastinate on our homework until we have a deadline that gets us to buckle down and accelerate our work. 

And (in case you’ve forgotten since Saturday’s issue), ECO firmly believes a single five-year time frame is the best solution to avoid locking in low levels of ambition, harnessing rapidly evolving real-world opportunities, and synchronizing better with five-year cycles of the broader Paris climate regime (i.e.,
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With the complexity of GHG fluxes in the land sector, it is often difficult to see the wood for all the trees. So let’s go straight to the root of the issue: some groups – notably, the forestry sector – claim that young, rapidly growing trees are the best at soaking up carbon from the atmosphere, and that using wood harvested from such plantations for furniture and building construction can lock away large quantities of carbon. Such false solutions are myths that disingenuously position the forestry industry as a key ally in the fight against climate change.

The truth is that trees only reach their maximum “carbon carrying capacity” many decades, and sometimes even centuries, into their growth, and that harvested wood products, on average, store only a fraction of the carbon contained in a living tree. 

But don’t despair – there are real solutions! Proforestation is a process that allows older forests to continue growing to reach their biological sequestration potential. A newly published paper finds that protecting existing natural forests and allowing them to grow offers far superior mitigation value and significant co-benefits compared to plantation forests, such as nutrient cycling, water regulation, and pollination. Proforestation applies to all forest types. 
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ECO has observed that loss and damage negotiators have been working hard here to find an agreement on the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the review of the Warsaw Mechanism. The heatwave in Europe hopefully has inserted pressure to come to an agreement (hm…is that the reason why “one party” did not accept reference to the IPCC reports? Given the overwhelming real-time impacts of climate change happening now everywhere, this Party may have found the IPCC reports no longer necessary…? ECO does not at all support any rationale that aims to disregard the IPCC!).

Now it is time for negotiators, when they arrive home the day after tomorrow, to get prepared for the next round of submissions — wherever you may spend your holidays, you may find inspiration from some relaxing.

ECO would have loved to see the ToRs being more clearly guided by the needs of vulnerable countries, its people and ecosystems, for whom the WIM has been set up. But even after so many years in the process, ECO still learned something new: the review will take place even in the absence of the ToRs. So in case Parties do not manage to agree on the ToR, each Party could proceed on its own discretion.
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Climate is a clear priority for Finland, who takes over the presidency of the EU Council this Monday. At the national level, Finland is aiming high: to be carbon neutral by 2035 and to achieve net negative emissions shortly thereafter. Respect! Finland also supports increasing the ambition of the EU’s NDC to -55% by 2030 (from 1990 levels).

In fact, ECO hears that one of Finland’s main presidency priorities will be to strengthen the EU’s position as a global leader on climate action. And if not now, then when?  

What matters now is significant emission reductions in the short-term. The UN Secretary General puts it very clearly in his call for the Climate Action Summit in September: unless we cut global emissions in half by 2030, we will not be able to avoid devastating climate impacts. He calls on the EU to improve its severely inadequate 2030 target and reduce emissions 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. ECO agrees that would be an improvement, but believes the EU can consider doing even better and move to cut emissions at least 65% in order to contribute its fair share of reaching the 1.5°C target and respect the Paris Agreement’s objectives.

Historically, the EU has often been there, at crunch times, to push global climate ambition forward.
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Today, we are racing towards tipping points in earth systems, for example in West Antarctica. We have reached societal tipping points with thousands of people on the streets, protesting for more ambitious climate policies. With all this pressure, ECO asks itself: What needs to happen for the negotiations to reach a tipping point themselves, to speed up and adequately address the climate crisis we are facing?

We are in the middle of a climate crisis – the devastating impacts of climate change are already being felt on all continents, in all regions. Looking at Asia, we see increasing stress on freshwater resources in India. The megacity of Chennai faces extreme water shortages, due to a drought in Tamil Nadu. Water deliveries have to be accompanied by the police. In the countryside, people have left their villages as there is no water left, nor do water deliveries reach them. 

Looking at Europe, Germany, France and other countries are experiencing extreme heat with  temperature records for the month of June likely to be broken. In Switzerland and Italy, storms, hail, and floods caused severe damage. Looking at North America, Colorado got 60 cm of snow on the first day of summer.
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Do you remember that kid at school that was loquacious or an empty suit? 

Someone who talks a lot and always has something to say. Someone who thinks they have all the good arguments to save the world but when it’s time to deliver their words don’t mean anything. 

ECO has been paying attention to the discussions around the UNFCCC programme budget for 2020 – 2021. If you have enjoyed the time you’ve spend at the conference centre in Bonn, it is in great part thanks to the amazing and rigorous work of UNFCCC staff members, who help structure our work and help us achieve the objectives we set around the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Convention. Sometimes, it can be easy to forget that. Implementing the Paris Agreement in an inclusive and participatory manner also means providing sufficient resources to translate our words into climate action. 

The UNFCCC Secretariat has rigorously provided Parties with a proposed budget of €68.7 million. This represents an increase of €11.8 million from the previous budget of 2018 – 2019. And the increase is mainly due to three different aspects: 

1. Correcting structural and programmatic imbalances that have existed in the Secretariat, for example, dedicating support to specific thematic areas (Loss and Damage, Gender and Action for Climate Empowerment); 
2. New tasks mandated in Paris and Katowice,  such as a new body for Indigenous People and a new body for response measures and support to the preparation for the global stocktake; 
3. Statutory staff cost increases of approximately 2.5%.

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ECO has been noting with interest here in Bonn the countries which have been bold enough to ‘Step Up’ and answer the question, ‘What will you be doing to enhance your NDC?’  So far (drum roll…) we have found that out of all the countries who have dropped by the Step Up booth, there are 31 heroes who are willing to go on record to talk about how they will contribute more to the global efforts to reduce emissions and address the climate emergency. 

‘The 31 most productive and advanced economies?’, ECO hears you ask. ‘China, maybe?, The US, surely? Major EU countries will no doubt be falling over each other to associate themselves with urgent climate action, right?’ Existential crisis must be very high on the list of priorities for these great nations as they will gather together in Osaka for the G20 Heads of State meeting on Friday 28 June. Japan’s own Shinzo Abe raised such hopes when he touted himself as a climate leader last fall.

Alas! It is not so. In fact, only one solitary G20 country, Indonesia, found its way to the Step Up booth and got ECO’s hopes up, by stating that it will look into how it will strengthen its action.
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Dr. Hélène Connor died last Friday 21^st of June on a flight as she returned home from a long-wished trip to Tibet. Hélène was a Montreal University Ph.D and a graduate of France’s top business school Hautes Etudes Commerciales. This soft spoken, unassuming and charming Frenchwoman was radiantly brilliant.

She was a real multitasking powerhouse of ideas, advocacy, scholarly research and innovative thinking regarding all aspects of the energy transition to 100% renewables and overcoming energy poverty in developing countries. 

Her four decades of ceaseless activity were formally honoured with the Legion of Honour award from the President of France. Amongst her many achievements were the founding of the global network HELIO International – Energy for ecodevelopment, the highly influential climate and development research of the South South North network, and her science-based, perceptive and surely ‘annoying’ critique of nuclear energy.  

Hélène, a frequent COP participant and active member of CAN, was an unfailing source of wisdom, guidance, political savvy and inside information. She was always ready to patiently guide her many friends and contacts with her invaluable insights. 

Merci Hélène, for all you did. You will be greatly missed! The highest tribute we can pay to you is to determinedly continue your struggle for responsible planetary management and truly sustainable development, which leaves no one behind.

It has come to ECO’s attention that some rich countries may need a quick refresher course in the basics of mathematics. There are four elementary arithmetic operations: + (addition), − (subtraction), × (multiplication) and ÷ (division). Let’s put these to use in some examples:

Addition

Country A has a four-year budget allocation for multilateral climate funds of £2 billion. It decides to give £300 million to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), £200 million to the Adaptation Fund and £1.5 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

£300 million + £200 million + £1.5 billion = £2 billion.

Simple.

Subtraction

What if Country A decided that it wants to contribute £1 billion to the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs)? This would be subtracted from their £2 billion budget allocation like so:

£2 billion – £1 billion = £1 billion

This leaves only £1 billion to split between the GCF, GEF and Adaptation Fund, meaning these UNFCCC funds will have less money to go around. Not good, especially since the CIFs are not accountable to the UNFCCC, are 80% mitigation focussed, only support half of developing countries, and don’t allow direct access to funding.

Multiplication

Country B pledged €750 million to the Green Climate Fund’s initial resource mobilization in 2014, and decides to double its contribution in the replenishment this year:

€750 million x 2 = €1.5 billion

Way to go!
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In the loss and damage negotiations, ECO sometimes hears the argument that no additional sources of finance are needed. Some say, for example, that humanitarian finance is available to address the impacts of weather disasters. But what are the facts? The latest Humanitarian Finance Update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) shows that, out of the total amount assessed as humanitarian funding requirements of US$ 26.42 billion, only 18.6%, equivalent to US$ 4.91 billion have been made available. That number rises only slightly if funding outside the UNOCHA coordinated overview is taken into account (another US$ 2.76 billion). ECO has pulled together a table of some of the recent weather-related disasters that have caused massive human suffering, and which remain underfunded. These disasters clearly demonstrate that there is a massive funding gap. There are other similarly underfunded crises where climate change is a contributing factor.

ECO also would like to mention that there are other loss and damage funding purposes – rehabilitation after disasters, dealing with territorial losses from sea-level rise, harvest losses, etc., which result in further funding needs.