Categoría: Previous Issues Articles

The shiny walls of the Maritim have a history of isolating negotiators from the troubles of the real world. While record floods have been devastating parts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, forcing thousands to leave their homes, business as usual has continued undisturbed in this calm and cosy UNFCCC bubble.

But yesterday ECO caught the scent of a fresh breeze of science and reality! It was when the 2013-2015 science and adequacy review kick-started with a reality check workshop. While scientists were at the podium, civil society was on the microphone and on the wall through Twitter. Thumbs up for the Secretariat and the Chair! Here’s the good news: According to the Hadley Centre, meeting a 1.5 degree C limit is still possible. Sure, there is a low probability, OR it could be a rebound after a temperature overshoot of at least several decades. But despite these caveats, it’s still possible.

The bad “news” is that reality is closer to worst-case scenario put forward by the IPCC in 1990, which is why this adequacy review is crucial. ECO recognizes there is a risk Parties will end up reviewing everything from the first UNFCCC document they ever read to the adequacy of the Maritim sandwiches (not adequate).
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Today, Parties will put forward ideas for advancing adaptation in the 2015 deal under the ADP.

As dangerous climate change looms closer and closer, and with little sign of increased mitigation ambition, millions of the poorest people in the world will face impacts that threaten their lives and livelihoods. Response to climate change through a new agreement must see adaptation as an essential component.

The roundtable will have inputs from the technical bodies, Adaptation Committee and LEG into the ADP to avoid duplication of efforts and to learn from ongoing work. This is important, so as to understand where the current architecture can be improved. However, it is even more important to identify major gaps that need to be addressed. Here, ECO sees an important role in the ADP process in correcting some of the shortcomings of past agreements.

The most important gaps are related to finance. Hardly any donor country has achieved the balance between adaptation and mitigation in the fast start finance period that was agreed in Copenhagen and Cancun. Adaptation finance lags far behind mitigation finance. Both are crucial and both need to expand rapidly.

Secondly, ECO also highlights the problem that currently only donors determine what kind of projects might be counted as fast start finance, without a voice for the recipient countries in determining whether the reported finance is really climate finance.
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Location: Latin America

Duration: one year

Deadline: until suitable candidate is found

The Climate Change International Policy Process is looking for an Active, Positive and Constructive COP Presidency with ambition as high as the Andes mountains, who will facilitate transparent work amongst Parties in 2014 to achieve crucial milestones for a global Fair Ambitious and Binding deal in 2015.

The successful candidate will be part of an multicultural environment and will conduct several meetings throughout the year.

The candidate will build consensus among Parties, promoting camaraderie and good will.

Commitment to engage actively with Civil Society Organisations is a must. A proven record of greenhouse gas pollution reductions at home and contributing to a strong global climate regime is a definite plus.

Specific Skills and Characteristics:

• Constructive attitude
• Impartial
• Able to moderate difficult discussions
• Problem solver
• Good anger management
• Ability to overcome obstructions
• Leads by example

Compensation: The adoration of millions, possibly billions, for contributing to a deal in 2015 to prevent climate change catastrophe. Free subscription to ECO for life.

To apply: send self-nomination to your Corresponding Regional Group ASAP

ECO would like to congratulate Sweden for pledging to the Adaptation Fund (AF) for the 4th time, in a (as yet) lonely attempt to save it (and small island states) from going under.

Pledging to the Adaptation Fund has never been this urgent as CER revenues have never been this low, dropping from 100 million USD in 2010 to an estimated 7 million in 2013. ECO has done the maths: it’s barely enough to fund ONE project under the Adaptation Fund.

Without new pledges, the Adaptation Fund will have to stop financing projects next year at the latest. ECO wonders, do Parties realize what this means for vulnerable countries facing rising seas and extreme events?

In case the message is not yet clear, ECO would like to reiterate: the one and only Adaptation Fund is drying up at the same time as fast start finance winds down, and needs an urgent round of pledges. In case anyone doubts the value of the AF, it is ranked as the most transparent climate fund and is signatory to the International Aid Transparency Initiative. It prioritises benefits for the most vulnerable communities and promotes institutional progress through direct access.

Dveloping countries need assurance that their adaptation needs will be met and the negotiations need to see some trust building if we really want that deal in 2015.
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ECO is dismayed to have to write another article on the fact that the SBI has yet to begin its work. Boo! ECO would much rather fill its pages with all the ideas it has for the 2015 agreement or on closing the gigatonne gap (or at least some funny cartoons, fake recipes, or mock classified ads). Instead it feels compelled to ruminate on the lack of progress…

Ironically, it seems that this lack of progress has its origins in something that actually did make progress: Doha eliminated more than 3.6 billion tons of the hot air in the Kyoto system. Without this decision Ukraine and Belarus would have accumulated over 2 billion and 400 million tons of hot air in the course of the second commitment period due to their weak targets. There is no point giving the number for Russia as it has comfortably decided not to participate in KP CP2.

The issue, of course, is how that decision was taken. While ECO fully supports resolving the long-standing matter of the rules of procedure, it is suspicious of the motives behind Russia, Ukraine and Belarus for insisting on it right now. For Russia, this just seems like sour grapes as they are not even a party to the second commitment period, and last time a proposal on the rules of procedure was discussed, seemed much more intent on pushing its own proposal to regularly review the Annexes of the Convention (which – oh, ECO doesn’t know – may explain some of the G77 and China’s positioning now on including new items in the agenda).
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In the midst of agenda controversies and lack of ambition, ECO would like to acknowledge that some countries are taking proactive actions, by bringing new ideas and commitments to the UNFCCC processes.

ECO welcomes some of the contributions and actions by the Independent Alliance of Latin American Countries (AILAC) to develop a process to achieve a good climate deal in 2015. They’re not among the wealthiest nations, nor the poorest; they are middle income countries and, in contrast to many developed countries, they have committed their nations to reduce emissions within their capacities.

In yesterday’s ADP plenary, they proposed to lead by example. They also welcomed the AOSIS proposal as a good starting point for action in the energy sector, which they see as being key to begin closing the gigatonne gap. The idea of scaling up and doing the same for other sectors such as transport, industry, waste and forestry is also appealing. ECO looks forward to seeing more progress on positive actions. But remember, you committed to it, and ECO will be watching…

“Today’s Fossil is awarded to Russia for blocking the start of the SBI through trying to alter the agenda.

In Doha, Parties made progress on improving the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol by getting rid of some of the hot air in the system.

Yet, now Russia – who is not even a Party to the second commitment period of the Protocol – is all bent out of shape about how the decision was taken.

Of course, having matters being formally adopted and adhering to the rules of procedure are very important elements in this process, however blocking the work of the SBI for two days is not the way to have this matter is resolved.

There has been an item on the COP agenda dealing with proposals regarding the rules of procedure for the past two years.

The SBI agenda is full of pressing issues that could also yield real emission reductions – like reforming JI and the CDM to ensure additionality or reviewing the adequacy of the long-term goal. So Russia why don’t you use that super power of yours to get the SBI back on track?!»

A question to delegates: How will you ensure that the two fastest growing sectors in terms of emissions – international aviation and maritime transport – contribute their fair share to global efforts to reduce emissions?

In Monday’s reports to SBSTA by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the news was not good. The IMO has suspended discussions of market based measures (MBMs) to some undefined date in the future, and with it the chance to set emissions targets for the shipping sector, which accounts for around 3% of global emissions.

On the aviation front the news isn’t quite as bad, at least not yet. The ICAO Council will discuss MBMs for aviation later this month, and MBMs are still on the table. There is some encouraging news from the aviation industry itself this week – the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents most airlines globally, has called on ICAO to adopt a global MBM this year. Although the specifics of their proposal leave a lot to be desired – only offsetting growth in the sector after the year 2020 – IATA’s decision puts the spotlight on ICAO.

Measures for these sectors, which would internalise the environmental externalities by putting a price on emissions and generating finance that could be used to respond to the climate crisis, are facing fierce resistance in both the IMO and ICAO.
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CAN hopes Australia’s independent Climate Change Authority (CCA) had a useful time in Bonn gathering perspectives from Parties, in particular on how Australia’s actions may help or hinder the road to a 2015 global deal.

With carbon pollution blasting through 400ppm and many nations preparing to ramp up their efforts, we guess you heard some stern views on the (lack of) adequacy and fairness of Australia’s unconditional 5% target for 2020. The good news? WWF earlier this week revealed Australia could bump up its target from 5% by 2020 to 25% at virtually no extra cost to its economy. A lucky country indeed! You’d be mad not to, wouldn’t you? And while the cost to your GDP would be negligible, the kudos would be priceless.

In honour of your visit, ECO revisited Australia’s conditions for moving to 15% and maintains these were comfortably satisfied by the Cancun Agreements and Durban Platform, along with new reporting requirements for developing countries and land sector rules under the Kyoto Protocol. But it’s no secret that 15% falls well short of what a country with economic capability and clean energy resources like yours should be putting in. Wouldn’t you agree? And as your own Professor Garnaut has made clear, with a coastal population, rising costs from extreme weather and shifting rainfall threatening to wreak havoc for your farmers, no developed country has a stronger national interest in keeping the global temperature rise as far below 2°C as possible.
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Mexico’s 2050 Climate Change Vision report is a welcome step in its path to a low-carbon future. Mexico has included an emission reduction goal of 50% by 2050 compared to 2000 and 30% with respect to business as usual by 2020 in its Climate Change National Strategy.

While Mexico has communicated it will do everything possible to meet these targets, according to both these documents and the General Climate Change Law, these targets are subject to the availability of international funding and support.

The measures detailed in the report include a massive deployment of public transport systems, stringent energy efficiency standards in the construction and industrial sectors and a rapid escalation of renewable energy as key elements for achieving a low-emissions economy. Despite this, the best strategies will be waylaid if funding to implement them is not available.

A substantial part of the measures included in Mexico’s 2050 Vision Strategy are shown to have the potential for significant positive impacts on the Mexican economy, and are intended to be supported through their own funding. However, there are significant actions that would incur short- and medium-term financial burdens for the country and need support from a start in the operation of the Green Climate Fund.
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