People who run circuses tell ECO that it’s only after the show, when the real work starts. As tents are dismantled, the planning, training and checking the details start straight away for the next show to be perfect for its audience.

We all knew that COP28 was when the framework should have been ready. But there was no proper effort at actually working on the product until the middle of this year. And the decision makers were still less involved. So when they came to take a look here, it was as if they were back to the start. Let ECO remind you, that for the people engulfed by floods, parched by droughts, swept by hurricanes, and especially those with the least resources to respond, the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) means the difference between life and death.

We cannot leave COP28 without any outcome on GGA. The GGA framework must have ambitious quantitative and qualitative targets with timelines and backed with finance and aligned with the NCQG and a clear roadmap on delivering the finace. 

Adaptation funding that does not increase the debt burden must be defined and more than doubled from the putative levels of 2019. The Adaptation Gap report reminded us that the funding scale must be increased by 10 to 18 times from the current levels.
... Read more ...

Few amongst you may know that ECO is a music composer in our free time. One day, while marching for a just and equitable phase out of fossil fuels, and for making the Paris Agreement real in every sector of the economy, ECO came up with the idea of creating a rock band. Our songs would be inspired by the struggles and power of all the people – workers and communities – who have been fighting for their rights and for a just transition that puts them front and centre. Our band’s name will be JTWP (Work Programme on Just Transition Pathways).

Parties gave us some musical instruments to start with (a scope that covers workers and decent work, social dimensions, international cooperation, participation) and we have the right tempo (dialogues, high level ministerial, annual decisions). 

But we can’t start yet. There is still noise around us. Bracketed text on unilateral measures and labour rights has not been solved, and we hear our song if we’re not all in tune. 

The risk for our band to break up before even playing a song is very real, so ECO is worried. 

Does the Presidency hear the urgent need to have JTWP up and playing and singing strong over the noise?
... Read more ...

Attention! Ministers, Heads of Delegation, and diplomats. 

ECO has a message for you: Today you have the chance to make history. Or perhaps tomorrow. Or even the day after. If possible ahead of 2030, and well ahead of 2050.

This could be the week that governments make history in the Dubai Expo City. The next days could be an inflection point that helps put the world on track for a future beyond fossil fuels, powered by renewable energy, and with global heating limited to below 1.5ºC. That’s entirely in your hands.

But there is another possibility. We are already seeing the previews of that possibility now, as cyclones rage and wildfires burn. That is the path we risk if you accept the menu full of dead rats, that is last night’s paragraph 39 of the GST draft text, and so fail to agree to a rapid, equitable and funded phase out of fossil fuels. It might serve incumbent interests and billionaires for now, but it won’t serve your country’s people – and it won’t serve you for very long.

ECO would like to remind Ministers that the science is clear: the objectives of the Paris Agreement can only be achieved through a complete phase out of oil, coal and gas production and use.
... Read more ...

It is the end of the year and for many, Christmas is in the air. ECO wished for this COP28 to deliver substance, to dive deep into what is needed and urgent in every aspect of the Dubai Agenda: from an effective and trustable Loss and Damage Fund to an adequate finance and adaptation framework and a clear and unambiguous signal to end the fossil fuel era. 

After 200 years of immeasurable damage and bogus gains of the fossil fuel industry, all this seems right to have. But it looks like the Grinch (or is it just a fossil fuel lobbyist in disguise?) is whispering more closely and loudly into the negotiator’s ears. Again the cream is taken out of the cake. Empty shelves. Bare house. The substance is taken out of the Gender Action Plan, the NCQG, and might not be found at the GGA. 

But there is a ray of light (…and I feeeeeel like I just got home…And I feeeeel…) when we open the window, and it is about the insistence of the Environment Minister of Colombia to put the hard issue of transforming our economy and shifting away from our addiction to fossil fuels into every conversation.
... Read more ...

GGA MEANS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH FOR THE VULNERABLE

Finally, ECO’s practice of patience has come to an end. ECO woke up this morning to the much-awaited new iteration of the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) text. As ECO clicked on the link with shaky hands, one question loomed large: What will it be this time? And most importantly, will it be enough? 

An initial glance gave ECO some relief. The revised text is a convergence of perspectives, even displaying some options on its initial pages! As it turns out, parties also found this version of the text to be more balanced than its previous iterations, prompting a collective decision to delve right into its content. 

ECO does want to take a moment to celebrate the inclusion of its namesake throughout the GGA text. Particularly, ECO applauds the attention given to adaptation measures, emphasizing restoration, conservation, and the protection of terrestrial, inland water, marine, and coastal ecosystems. References through the text to local and Indigenous knowledge systems are similarly welcome, although parties could do a lot better to reinforce gender considerations.

While parties are now provided with an option to acknowledge the principles of equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capacities (CBDR-RC) of the Paris Agreement and Convention, alas, the coveted standalone permanent agenda item on the GGA becomes another mirage in this desert.
... Read more ...

The science is clear: We need to phase out all fossil fuels within the next 25 years, if not earlier. That is the only way to achieve the 1.5ºC ambition at the heart of the Paris Agreement.

Last week’s voluntary pledges and promises won’t cut it. In the last two days, ECO has read not one but two studies confirming this, from both the International Energy Agency and Climate Action Tracker. 

For this COP to be a success, there is a bright red line: it must secure an agreement to fully, rapidly, and equitably transition away from all fossil fuel production and use – to phase oil, gas, and coal out in a way that is fair, fast, full, funded, and forever. This must be part of a comprehensive energy package, alongside tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency deployment, securing a reduction in total energy demand – while enabling energy access for all. A package that also delivers rights, participation and real world action in the Just Transition Work Programme.

ECO takes heart that there is serious momentum to say bye to fossils and usher in a renewable future in the text one day before it is due. But some of the richest nations are trying to pretend everyone has the same role to play, hiding their decades of fossil gluttony and the fatter wallets it has given them.
... Read more ...

Your Excellencies,

ECO has – like this COP – reached an age where time matters. Since 1992 we have had a great time going to COPs and talking about solving the climate problem. As our 28th COP is spinning into its final days we paused to reflect on the urgency of our task, and our “slow hurry “to actually do it. 

ECO might be growing old, but ECO does not fail to realize and appreciate that the goal line at this COP is indeed significant. We are finally addressing the root cause of our common problem: getting rid of fossil fuels. ECO is all in favour (cheering from the sidelines now that the negotiations are behind closed doors). 
Fossil fuels must be phased out. However, ECO can’t stop worrying about the time factor. To sort this mess, it is in this critical decade we need to urgently scale up reductions. We know this. We agreed on this. But so far we haven’t done it. 
This time Eco doesn’t want another decision postponing action to happen in 2040 or 2050. This time we want action to begin NOW. We need a decision to have emissions peaking in 2025 and achieving a 43% reduction of emissions in relation to 2019 levels by 2030.
... Read more ...

ECO has been in the dark about the carbon market discussions yesterday. Is it foreshadowing what’s to come under 6.2? Looking at Saturday’s text, it sure seems like it.

If you think carbon markets are difficult to make sense of now, wait until the article 6.2 rules come into play. A review process that has no consequences, a confidentiality clause that has no limits, a step of actions that have no structure or order, and all of this within a framework which, let’s face it, allows countries to trade pretty much whatever they want (yes, even if it’s not measured in tCO2e!) and use it to meet their NDCs. What. A. Mess.

Parties, when you see the final 6.2 text today, and you get to decide whether to “take it or leave it”, here are some of the things that ECO would like you to look for before you “take it”:

• A definition of what a cooperative approach is – not to limit how Parties can cooperate (ECO loves cooperation) but rather to clarify what it is you’ve been talking about for the past 8 years!
• A clear set of guardrails to ensure that only sensitive information is deemed confidential. Confidentiality should be the exception, not the rule, and there can be no confidentiality without legitimate justification.

ECO knows a lot is going on – declarations, Majils, inf infs –- but does that mean a certain Party talking hard cash and funding momentum has forgotten something major? ECO gets it. We all have those moments where things fall through the cracks, especially the fundamentals. But how can we have a COP where Means of Implementation and more Finance are  the talk of town and not the Green Climate Fund (GCF)? Filling the GCF is crucial for implementing the Convention and Paris Agreement. With flashy financial commitments announced with fanfare outside of the Convention’s financial mechanism, perhaps the COP Presidency got distracted by the shiny and new and forgot to consider contributing – voluntarily –  to the tried and true? 

And Developed country Parties, don’t think you are off the hook! You should check your memories too.  Some GCF contributors have apparently forgotten to announce new pledges (and some don’t seem to know their fair share). Don’t they remember that significant pledges, rapidly fulfilled, must back up any claims for wanting to push climate action and ambition? Memory lapses happen, but ECO can help you recall that since the first replenishment, the climate catastrophe has worsened and developing countries are further caught in a debt trap.
... Read more ...