Categoría: Previous Issues Articles

“I gotta feeling, 

That this week we will make good progress

That this week we will think of workers

That this week we’ll discuss diversification 

Ouh! 

I gotta feeling, 

That countries will adopt the workplan

And the forum will share best practices

And contribute to more climate ambition!”

Wow, well this morning, ECO feels like singing! 

Yesterday, ECO saw countries engage constructively on their first negotiations on the adoption of the six-year work-plan for the forum on the impact of the implementation of response measures. They agreed to streamline a work process that has been delayed by one year. And it’s particularly encouraging that all countries agreed in principle, to allow observers to stay in the room during the two hours of informal negotiations that took place yesterday. 

ECO also finds it encouraging when countries decide to address, in the most honest way, issues related to just transition and economic diversification. In a climate-changing world, these are not easy discussions. They can be painful because change means there will be some losers. But for the global community to work together to hold the global temperature rise below 1.5^°C, cooperation among and within countries will be essential to ensure that the transition is fair, equitable, inclusive, and responsive to gender, class, and race, and disabled people.
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Dear delegates,

Today, at the Stocktake on Pre-2020 implementation and ambition, you will have one of the last opportunities to reflect on how well (or how badly?) you are doing in meeting your 2020 targets. One of them is the climate finance goal of US$100 billion a year that developed countries promised to provide and mobilise by 2020. With the deadline looming large, three things need to be foremost in your minds ⎯ and your interventions during the session:

Time to acknowledge and bridge the adaptation finance gap. On the last count only around a fifth of the overall climate finance provided and mobilised went to adaptation. Despite repeated commitments to balance adaptation and mitigation finance, you, developed countries, are still failing to respond to the growing needs of vulnerable populations on the frontline of the climate crisis. The Pre-2020 Stocktake is your chance to fix this, by committing to urgently increasing your adaptation finance. Making new pledges to the Adaptation Fund would not be such a bad idea.

Time to be transparent and fair. Today, we expect you to say that you will meet the USD100 billion goal… but let’s be honest, if you do, it will be entirely on your own terms and much of what is being counted should not be – “clean” coal and non-concessional loans to name two examples.
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Today and tomorrow, COP25 will see some focus on pre-2020 implementation and action in the Stocktake on Pre-2020 Implementation and Ambition, with the technical part today and the high-level part tomorrow. 

According to the concept note for the Stocktake, “all Parties share the view that pre-2020 implementation and ambition are of utmost importance”. We have a hard time believing that you all really feel that way. 

In the pre-2020 period, you, the Parties

have had the chance to get the world on track to avoid catastrophic climate change and the resulting loss and damage to people, particularly in vulnerable countries. 

have invited the IPCC to help us establish sound scientific knowledge on the impacts and risks of climate change, and the need to combat it. 

have seen report after report demonstrating the co-benefits of climate action, including for poverty reduction, equality, pollution, health, and more. Early action would have even been more cost-effective. 

Also in the pre-2020 period, have brought us promises, and speeches. You have not brought the necessary emission reductions and finance. 

What you, the Parties, have not had in the pre-2020 period is the political will and courage matching the challenge we face, to stand up to those who want to continue profiting from climate-destroying practices, and stand up for those vulnerable people facing devastating losses and damages.  
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Is the COP facing a déjà vu mom ent? As Typhoon Kammuri threatens the Philippines, are we about to see a repeat of the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013? It was Typhoon Haiyan’s impact on the people of the Philippines that mobilized global cooperation around the urgency to respond to irreversible loss and damage due to climate change. COP19 responded after lengthy negotiations with a decision to establish the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) on loss and damage, a political response to a human catastrophe caused by climate change.

Six years later at COP25, we are at another watershed moment. The review event of the WIM that took place the day before the COP began clearly recognised that the outputs of the WIM should be greater than the outputs of the Executive Committee (ExCom) alone. The review also recognised the lack of progress to date. Apart from some promising work under the Task Force for Displacement, the rest of the ExCom work plans are sadly far behind from where we need to be. So, what needs to change to unlock the potential of the loss and damage process in order to respond to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable?
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It can be all too easy to accuse UNFCCC negotiations of being somewhat lofty and distant from the issues on the ground. But we’re pleased to share that the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) is proudly bucking that trend with a workshop this week on a topic that goes in the opposite direction…

Yes, friends. We’re having a workshop on MANURE. Really.

Specifically, it’s on “improved nutrient use and manure management towards sustainable and resilient agricultural systems”. ECO knows this may sound hilarious to the urbanites among you. But folks with their hands in the soil know that this topic underpins the future of food security and climate stability. It may not be glamorous, but it’s incredibly important.

Half a century of industrialised agriculture has pushed our climate and ecosystems to breaking point. Energy is needed to produce synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. This is primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, and the resulting nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions when these are produced and applied to soils are contributors to the climate crisis. Soils degraded by application of these fertilisers hold less water and natural nutrients and leave crops more vulnerable to climate impacts. Industrial agriculture is no longer fit for purpose in an era of climate change, and it must be transformed.
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ECO can’t remember how often we have told Japan’s minister to stop coal.  The science is clear that new coal is not compatible with the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2°C, let alone 1.5°C.

Japan came to Madrid empty-handed with no policy change ⎯ again! Even worse, just yesterday, Mr. Kajiyama, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry said Japan wants to keep using coal power. Japan’s pursuit of coal expansion both domestically and internationally is totally insane. 

Japan is wasting billions of dollars on new coal plants overseas. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) is considering financing Vung Ang 2 and possibly Vinh Tan 3 in Vietnam. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) continues to support coal projects such as Indramayu in Indonesia and Matabari in Bangladesh. Japan says it supports coal if it meets the conditions of using highly efficient technologies and at the request of host countries. The old narrative that these projects are cleaner than older coal plants does not stand. The projects that received Japanese public financing emit far more air pollutants than would be allowed in Japan. But, with ANY conditions, coal is coal and it is still bad.

Japan’s domestic coal expansion also poses serious problems.
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Dear Negotiators, you’ve seen your Article 6 shopping list, now ECO’s here to help you read the labels and understand exactly what it entails. Because you don’t want to buy the wrong thing – and knowing the details will help you make the right purchase. In Article 6, it is crucial to get everything right before going forward, otherwise it could all go horribly wrong.  

ECO wants to get you up to speed on human rights. “But why?” – you might ask – “when what we are discussing is markets?” Because ultimately, climate action is about people. And climate action, whether it’s through Article 6 activities or other climate finance projects, must not harm people and the environment. We know Article 6 activities can lead to harm, and often to those on the frontlines of the climate crisis, because we’ve seen it before (think Kyoto Protocol markets). Climate action shouldn’t lead to human tragedies. And climate action that displaces people, floods their lands, causes biodiversity loss, undermines ecosystem integrity, and infringes on their rights to food and water surely isn’t sustainable development. But don’t worry, ECO’s here to help you not repeat these past mistakes, and to ensure that you have all the necessary rules for Article 6.
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Today is the International Day of Disabled People, which revolves around the theme ‘Promoting the participation of Persons with Disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda’. The latter is an agenda that involves leaving no one behind. Yet, disabled people are already being left behind in the climate crisis and the irony of this is not lost to us.

As COP25 begins, there is no better time to recognise the rights of  the disabled – a community that needs to be at the forefront of our minds when discussing human rights under the UNFCCC process and the Paris Agreement, including, but not limited to Article 6, Loss & Damage, NDC development and implementation, COP location and relocation.

The disabled community is extremely knowledgeable and resourceful in designing adaptive solutions to complex problems: its experience and knowledge is thus extremely important as the world gathers to seek solutions to strengthen the resilience of our societies. Yet, the disabled community has no formal voices in the negotiations. 

At the national level, many of ECO’s members implore COP attendees to ensure that “disabled people cannot be the expected casualty of the climate crisis”. Thus reminding us all that “this fight belongs to disabled people too, but we don’t have a focal point.”
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‘For all life’ – this was the cry echoed across the opening of both the Indigenous People’s Pavilion and the Plenary on day one of COP25. ‘For the lives of our children, our grandchildren, and future generations.’ This seems a simple sentiment , but for those defending environmental justice and human rights on the frontlines, this sentiment continues to go unheard – and indigenous lives are the price being paid. Yesterday the Indigenous People’s caucus stood in solidarity with the Papuan people for the raising of the Morning Star Flag, a symbol of Papuan independence from the occupying state of Indonesia. On December 1st, four Papuan people were arrested for raising this flag in Papua, which is illegal in the Indonesian occupied territories.

In 1962 the United Nations facilitated the transfer of administration of West Papua from the Dutch colonisers to Indonesia. Following that, in 1969 the United Nations oversaw the so-called “Act of Free Choice” referendum, in which West Papuan leaders would vote for or against Papuan independence. Around a thousand tribal representatives were escorted at gunpoint and forced to vote in favour of Indonesian sovereignty. Since the 1970s, the extraction of minerals, especially gold, within Papua has been a key part of Indonesian economic growth.
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