Category: Previous Issues Articles

Flexible mechanisms should not be so pliable that they undermine the already impoverished collective ambition of Parties. The Paris agreement needs to ensure that all Parties are decarbonising their economies and commit to the phase-in of 100% renewable energy by 2050. For this to be possible, any use of carbon markets must be supplemental to strong domestic action. This may seem obvious to most, but let ECO remind delegates that the relevant text on supplementarity is currently bracketed.

It is good to see that certain quality criteria—real emissions reductions, permanence, additionally and supplementarity—have made it into the co-chairs’ new text, in para 34 of the decision. Parties should endorse these, and to make them durable for the lifetime of the agreement, include them as principles for the use of markets  in the core legal agreement.

To make sure that market mechanism are used appropriately, ECO believes that the need to achieve a net decrease in emissions needs to be mandatory though, and not left to the whims and fancies of participating Parties. It is also imperative that any use of markets contributes to sustainable development and avoids double counting. The lack of environmental integrity of market mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol have so far created a 11Gt “hot air” loophole.
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Many countries have been saying that differentiation needs to be inserted back into the text. And ECO agrees. How would we otherwise be able to reach a dynamic differentiation approach for the Paris agreement and unlock the needed ambition?

During yesterday’s exercise, many countries—mostly developing countries—suggested that differentiation needs to be well represented in the co-chairs’ text in order to make it a valid starting point for negotiations.

Multiple Parties, rightfully, made it clear that the Paris agreement must be under the Convention. This includes the application of its principles, and that differentiation must be incorporated in the preamble. Additionally, ECO thinks the general mention in Article 2 of common but differentiated responsibilities in the light of national circumstances could be strengthened by referencing different levels of development.

Differentiation must also be addressed in each element of the Agreement in the context of the relevant issues—specifically, who does what in the mitigation, finance and adaptation sections.

ECO was pleased to see the insertions to the text by Brazil and others that bring CBDR back into the mitigation section. Developed countries should take the lead on mitigation actions, with ambitious contributions from all countries, especially those who are capable.

On INDCs, differentiation would allow different countries to take on different types of commitments according to their responsibility, capability and needs.
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The voices of many religions are amplifying the call to bring back real ambition to these climate negotiations.

Today, a statement signed by 154 religious and spiritual leaders from 50 countries will be handed over to Christiana Figueres. The Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Brahma Kumari and Sikh leaders are asking governments to reach zero emissions by mid-century, phase-out fossil fuels, commit to building climate resilience, and provide finance and support to poor and vulnerable countries.

Leading by example, these faith leaders have also committed to climate action by pledging to continue raising awareness on climate change and significantly reduce the carbon footprints of their organisations.

Standing united across differences, while combining a scientifically sound mitigation target, finance, support to the most vulnerable, and taking action at home…is all ECO ever asks for.

ECO suggests that Parties take note from these spiritual leaders and continue the negotiations in good faith

While France is renowned for its mouth watering cuisine, the negotiating text for COP 21 will need major changes to avoid leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

The co-chairs have brought from the kitchen an incomplete meal with bland elements of uncertain origin. Crucially, the entire non-paper lacks that key ingredient necessary to stay in the running for a Michelin star: ambition.

To start with, the ambition and durability of the international climate regime must be secured through a review and revision mechanism based on the principles of equity and CBDR, which should work to increase Parties’ ambition over time in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Clearly, the proposed “Global Stocktake” does not make that cut. CAN proposes the adoption of a Paris Ambition Mechanism (PAM) that would link and synchronize Parties’ mitigation, finance and adaptation commitments in 5-year cycles. The PAM should combine a scientific review of the adequacy and equity of Parties’ commitments with implementation support for countries that wish to act beyond their domestic capabilities. It should hold the first round of reviews well before 2020.

A good chef thinks through a meal, from the amuse-bouche to the digestif. Likewise, this deal must be thought through all the way to the long-term goal.
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Well, not quite. But the co-chairs’ text removes any obligation for international aviation and shipping to set an emissions target. These sectors have CO2 emissions equal to the UK and Germany respectively. Moreover these sectors are set to grow by up to 300% by 2050, which would greatly undermine efforts to limit a temperature increase to 1.5°C. International aviation and shipping shouldn’t escape simply because their emissions aren’t assigned to a country. 

Even worse is how this text also drops any reference to using these sectors as a source of climate finance. Both sectors get their fuel tax-free, and will continue to be major drivers of climate change. The final agreement should require the two UN agencies that regulate these sectors—ICAO for aviation and IMO for shipping—to set targets and introduce measures compatible with a 1.5°C objective and identify these sectors as potential sources of climate finance.

Countries big and small are coming forward with their targets, so let’s not ignore these two huge and growing drivers of climate change.

With the majority, approximately 150, of climate plans now on the table, the time is ripe for a first assessment of these joint efforts. Morocco and the European Commission started a debate on the aggregate effort of the submitted proposals at their INDC Forum in Rabat.

ECO feels that Paris is on track for meeting its first objective: to unite countries in climate action with submitted INDCs covering marathon 85% of global emissions. This is an unprecedented moment and one Parties should be congratulated for! 

However, there is still a massive gap between the level of effort proposed in the INDCs and the level of action required to keep warming below 1.5°C. Though the INDCs start bending the curve, they still leave the world on track for dangerous levels of warming.

Scientists at the INDC Forum translated this gap in ambition into the need to include clear short- and long-term signals in the Paris agreement itself. There was a clear warning that transitioning towards the 2°C goal without an increase in ambition between now and 2030 would require rapid and abrupt energy system changes.

The meeting also discussed the lessons learned from this round of INDC submissions, looking both towards Paris and beyond.
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There is a big gap between what countries have put forward, so far ,and what it will take to avoid runaway climate change. A new report—Fair Shares: A Civil Society Equity Review of INDCs—compares submissions with their fair share based on science and equity. It warns that we have just 10-15 years to achieve significant emissions reductions. The report concludes that to avoid a 3°C warmer world, the Paris agreement must ensure steep emissions reductions towards near-zero levels by mid-century.

It must include a mechanism to ratchet up current targets before they come into effect in 2020 and enhance every 5 years thereafter. This is alongside a step-change in international climate finance, and the creation of a clear and equitable plan to address the emissions gap fuelled by scaled-up support from the developed countries that are most responsible for climate change.

In September, more than 40 countries called for human rights to be included in the Paris Agreement. Human rights, gender equality and the issue of a just transition dominated the discussion in the negotiations on the preamble and Section C at the last ADP session in Bonn. 

Since this is a party-driven process, the co-chairs should be responsive to the Parties. Now, however, the Parties are left asking: Why has any mention of human rights been axed from the core agreement and included only in the preamble to the COP draft decision text? And why has the just transition language been dropped entirely from the draft Paris agreement text? The fleeting reference in the chapeau of the draft decision to the need for just transition strategies is not sufficient.

A human rights-focused approach offers a holistic picture of the connections between the economic, social, cultural, ecological and political dimensions of the fight against climate change. The new text must integrate human rights as a cornerstone issue in order to deliver effective climate solutions to the world’s poorest and most marginalised people. And just transition strategies must be acknowledged as key components of national climate strategies—starting with the initial round of INDCs—not seen as an afterthought.
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Burning coal is many things: it’s dirty, carbon intensive, expensive and, a massive threat to public health. It’s also not a solution to the climate crisis. This should be evident to anyone familiar with the warnings from the IPCC and IEA. The construction of coal plants will soon lock in emissions that will exceed 2°C warming. Approximately 80% of the world’s coal reserves cannot be burned if we are to stay below this threshold. 

Many of this understand this, although, apparently this is not evident to Japan. 

Japan has relentlessly argued that burning unlimited amounts of coal in slightly more efficient plant is a core solution to climate change. To advance its fairy-tale vision of a coal-fired, climate-safe world, Japan has systematically obstructed common sense proposals to limit global coal subsidies. Japan has opposed language in the finance text that would call on countries to limit international support for high carbon investments. It has funded coal plants and claimed it as part of its climate finance contributions, rejecting the consensus of other major contributors that this is inappropriate. And perhaps worst of all, it has blocked any compromise agreement at the OECD level that would limit public subsidies for the export of coal technologies. 
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As Wednesday’s stocktaking made clear, all Parties agree we need to do quite a bit of work to get the ambitious, equitable and comprehensive climate deal the world needs. As one French group (no, not the incoming Presidency) puts it; we need to work harder, better, faster, stronger.

Progress is needed today to develop constructive bridging proposals on concepts and text. The challenge is no mean feat; it is an international agreement we’re trying to get, after all. So the ADP co-chairs, co-facilitators, and all Parties need to work harder, better  and faster to craft a concise, well-organised text. We’ll need a text that is stronger, with options for a truly ambitious outcome, that lets us start real negotiations when we next meet in Bonn in October.

Over the next six weeks, there are a series of important political discussions that can inject political momentum into October’s negotiations. These include this coming week’s ministerial consultations in Paris, the September 27th leaders’ climate luncheon in New York, and the early October finance ministers meeting in Lima.

ECO reminds Parties that we must leave the last ADP meeting before Paris with a manageable set of textual options on the political issues ministers will have to resolve

We have full confidence that the Peruvian and French presidencies will continue building trust and understanding among ministers, identifying possible resolutions for key issues well before crunch time in Paris.
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