Category: Previous Issues Articles

Australia’s worsening status as a climate wrecker was given even more attention with its fourth Fossil of the Day awarded today at the Lima COP20. Aussies like to win things, but most sensible Australians would be shaking their heads at this.

So what did they do this time?

Well the Australian Trade Minister who is here to ‘chaperone’ the Foreign Minister told big business leaders yesterday that his Government may not sign up to a new global deal if major trade competitors are not doing it too; he said Australia will not “get it in the neck”.

Dear minister,

You can’t say you’re in favor of the 2 degrees target and at the same time refuse to take adequate action on short, mid and long term mitigation. That just doesn’t work.

Isn’t it time you admit that we simply need to phase out fossil fuels from our
energy system, completely? Could Paris be that moment? “Dear fossil fuel industry, it’s over.” Try that! Feels good.

Doing the math with the IPCC carbon budgets for both 2 and 1.5 degrees warming clearly show that we must get carbon emissions to zero by 2050. In reality, that means phasing out fossil fuels completely – which is what the Catholic Bishops called for yesterday, along with a transition to 100% renewable energy.

Getting there in time means taking action now. Here in Lima you need to agree to:

• Take more pre-2020 action, because doing it later would be harder and more costly.

• 5-year commitment periods to increase ambition in 2025 so as to avoid locking in low targets for 15 years.

• Zero carbon by 2050 as the clearest expression of the existing temperature goal.

• Provide sufficient  means of implementation so that developing countries can leapfrog to provide access to clean, renewable energy for all.

The current elements text provides options for countries to consider as the long-term goal. Curiously, only one of the options refers to the science of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The IPCC science is, in fact, consistent with several possible long-term goals, and in particular with several different end dates. It’s just the background assumptions and choice of gases that differ.

However, there is one ironclad requirement for any goal that wishes to limit warming: CO₂ emissions must most certainly, at some point, come down to zero. The particular day of reckoning depends upon how much warming and risks we are willing to accept.

To push back the day when CO₂ emissions must drop to zero, one could, at least in theory, take on the rather daunting project of engaging so-called negative emissions on a massive scale – a scenario that relies on largely untested and fantastically expensive technology. IPCC science indicates that doing so, while attempting to limit warming to 2 °C, would only push the day of reckoning back to somewhere around 2070 for CO2.

However, to limit warming without relying on experimental technology that has unknown risks and potentially extreme costs, the the IPCC tells us that to keep below 2 °C, global CO2 emissions must drop to zero by 2050.
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Today’s Lima Climate Action High-Level Meeting is the place for Parties to explain how they will start closing the mitigation gap. While that gap is huge, closing it is not as hard as it may sound. Here are a few easy pointers for developed countries, who should take the lead in the pre-2020 period: Obviously, you should start with fully implementing what you’ve already committed to do. This is particularly relevant for those who are backtracking on their 2020 commitments. But you will have to go beyond that. There are a few things you should simply stop doing – end all fossil fuel subsidies and block off the dirty fossil fuel pipeline – and others you should start doing, The EIA says that 80% of additional measures needed to close the pre-2020 mitigation gap would not impact GDP, and there are multiple co-benefits from reducing fossil fuel pollution (and everyone likes clean air and water). To help, here ECO has compiled a convenient list of a few of the big Don’t’s – things you simply must not do – in order to help save the climate. Even better, ECO has also identified many good Do’s that you can start implementing now.
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Today there is a lot of attention on increasing pre-2020 ambition. Our host region provides many great examples showing what is possible. The equation is quite simple: more investment in sustainable renewable energy and less money to perverse fossil fuel subsidies equals great benefit to everyone in LAC and the entire world. They are inspiring other countries – both developed and developing – for a path towards 100% renewable energy with sustainable energy access for all by 2050 at the latest.

Brazil’s electricity generation from renewables has almost doubled in ten years. Brazil’s supporting mechanisms – a fixed tariff for electricity fed into the grid and the more recently introduced technology specific auctions – have led to it becoming the region’s renewable energy giant.

Chile has a highly attractive investment environment for renewable energies, due to its policy set-up which includes a Law for Fostering Non-Conventional Renewable Energy.

Costa Rica has decided to go for a target of 100% renewable energy by 2021. That’s an inspiring example for other countries in the region and globally.

Mexico this year passed a Programme on Renewable Energy, setting the goal of 25% electricity coming from renewables before 2018, up from 15% in 2012.

Nicaragua is the renewable energy paradise of Central America, and over the period 2008-2012 had the highest annual growth in Latin America for non-hydro renewable power generation with almost 30%.
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As recently reported by the International Energy Agency, fossil fuel subsidies in 2012 came in at US $544 billion – five times greater than those for renewable energy at US $101 billion. The IMF puts the estimate at an astounding US $2 trillion when indirect subsidies are taken into account.

Taxpayers around the world are, effectively, paying to destabilize the climate. Subsidies are granted in rich countries to their coal, oil and gas industries, and also in poor countries to make fuel for middle class car owners cheaper while worsening air pollution and taking desperately needed funds from health care, education and housing.

In Latin America, fossil fuels are cheapest in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. There are some  sad ironies here – Venezuela has a Ministry which has among its mandates the implementation of “eco-socialism”; the other two have codified respect for Pacha Mama and Rights of Nature in their constitutions. Other countries in Latin America, such as Mexico, also provide billions in subsidies for the production and consumption of fossil fuels.

Subsidies generally benefit those who use the most fuel – not the poor. If the substantial resources currently devoted to these subsidies were spent on improving public services or directly transferred to the poor, the social impact would be positive.
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Catholic Bishops from around the world came together yesterday to issue a statement calling for an end to the fossil fuel era and for global temperature increase to be kept below 1.5 °C.

While Church leaders have spoken out previously on the subject of climate change, yesterday’s statement is significant as it represents the first time a global group of Bishops have shared their thoughts on the subject in one document.

The statement calls for a ‘deepening of the discourse at COP20’ to ensure concrete decisions are taken in Paris next year, highlighting that a clear roadmap must be adopted and set out how countries will meet predictable and additional finance requirements.

The Bishops “call on all Catholics and people of good will to engage on the road to Paris as a starting point for a new life in harmony with Creation respecting planetary boundaries.”

With Pope Francis expected to release a Papal Encyclical next year on human ecology, the Bishops’ statement may signal the Catholic Church is going to become a more vocal advocate for climate justice.

On the heels of the historic U.S.-China climate announcement, youth from the United States and China have combined forces to build momentum in the youth climate movement.

Building on previous collaborative work, the China Youth Climate Action Network (CYCAN) and the Sierra Student Coalition partnered on a joint statement to their heads of state detailing the youth reaction to the recent U.S.-China climate announcement. The statement expresses appreciation for the bold steps taken by both countries while also pushing for more ambitious goals, in particular the need for strong and effective policies which are socially just and scientifically sound.

The statement goes on to detail the ambitious emissions targets and policies needed to avert an irreversible climate crisis, keeping global temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.

This statement is just the beginning.  The youth who are inheriting the critical problem of climate disruption are an ever stronger part of a global dialogue. The unified voices of the world’s youth promise to be there every step of the way from Lima to Paris, driving progress in their communities and pushing for a world with equitable access to clean, safe, renewable and socially just energy systems.

The US delegation might need an extra pair of spectacles because they seem to be chronically short-sighted. Despite Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina, with the support of Japan, they are trying to remove adaptation and loss & damage from the ADP decision text. Our First-Place Fossil of the Day award is a dead heat between the United States and Japan.

Now, a second pair of spectacles for the
Polish officials who can’t see that the writing is on the wall for the coal industry. Poland win the Second-Place Fossil of the Day for ignoring the clean energy transition and proposing a range of new coal-related projects as part of a new EU 300 billion Euro stimulus package.

Spectacles won’t help with our Third-Place Fossil of the Day winner, Venezuela. This morning Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs clearly stated that “the problem of climate change is not because of the production of petrol, but for the irrational use of it”.

Our three Ray of the Day award winners are Germany, Peru and Colombia who all pledged vital climate finance. Germany pledged around $60 million to the Adaptation Fund, Peru then pledged $6 million to the Green Climate Fund, and they were then matched by Colombia who pledged an additional $6 million.

Today, on Human Rights Day, nearly 250 civil society organizations and 76 independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council are calling for human rights to be reflected in the UNFCCC process.

With human beings increasingly impacted by both the causes and the consequences of climate change, it’s obvious that human rights are critical to an effective global solution for the current climate crisis. Yet Parties refuse to grasp what’s needed to effectively protect
human rights and achieve climate justice.

All Parties have existing obligations to protect human rights in the context of climate change and thus have duties to prevent further harm from climate change. This can only be done by applying a rights-based approach which ensures that human rights are taken into account in the development and implementation of
climate policies, mechanisms and institutions.

Parties must also ensure civil society participation in the negotiating process, the development of national commitments and other national level policies, and the development and implementation of climate policies on the ground. Adequate access to information and effective participation increases support for climate policies and their public ownership, and will lead to effective and sustainable outcomes at all levels.

The international community’s failure to take necessary action to mitigate climate change threatens the rights – including the right to development – of vulnerable peoples and communities who are already experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change.
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