Dear Delegates,
ECO is glad you found
your way to Santiago de Chile Madrid. Rest assured, ECO will not forget
about the people of Chile and will closely follow the situation and update you.
But not only the location of COP25 has changed. Just like the IPCC 1.5°C
Special Report last year adjusted our frame of reference, so, too, have the
IPCC Special Reports of this year adjusted our measuring sticks by clearly
showing us that irreversible tipping points and climate impacts will hit even
faster than what we anticipated just last year.
Around the world, millions of people have taken to the streets — from Hong Kong to Bolivia, the UK, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Ecuador, and Chile — demanding their right to a better life. We are not only seeing the failure of big emitters to respond to the demands of people, youth, and science but also a profound blindspot of the inherent linkages between social, ecological and climate justice. The IPCC 1.5°C report robustly highlighted the need for governments to internalize these connections and act on them. ECO knows relocating COP25 has created challenges – but hopes you don’t even think about taking this as an excuse to underdeliver. After all, Madrid’s official symbol is a bear rearing up on its hind legs feasting on berries from the madroño tree, not a sloth burying its head in the sand.
And there are several berries ECO encourages you to reap in Madrid. COP25 is the perfect opportunity to unpack your plans for raising domestic climate ambition in 2020 to bridge the gap highlighted in the UNEP 2019 gap report. This is the difference between what we need to do and what we are actually doing to tackle climate change. From ECO’s point of view: a goal without a plan is just a wish! ECO, therefore, recommends a clear timeline:
- Commit yourselves to update and revise your NDCs to be in line with the 1.5°C threshold, in the first quarter of 2020.
- Politely ask the UNFCCC Secretariat to assess, by 15 October 2020, the aggregate impact of updated NDCs submitted by 15 September, on projected global emissions and temperature increase.
- If you’ve spent some time in these halls you’ll agree: process matters and civil society and non-state actors are great partners in climate ambition and action. So, please, make sure to organize inclusive review processes when preparing your new NDCs back home. ECO believes it is crucial you show your citizens they can take part in enhancing their NDC.
But there is more: At COP25, ECO expects the big and rich emitters to follow champions from the LDCs and AOSIS and their commitments at the UNSG Summit: Use the ministerial events to send clear political signals that you will respond to the climate emergency and step up climate support to reach US$100billion by 2020.
And there is even more: ECO (and maybe you as well) feels we raised the issue of Loss and Damage more often than you will order tapas the coming two weeks. But when if not at COP25, during the review of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM) is the moment to start substantially addressing loss and damage by providing new and additional finance? ECO – of course – has some suggestions for you: Set up a financing facility and expert group under the WIM so that you can deliver on your promise of support and action on the matter. In addition (not instead) you may also establish a task force on loss and damage under the SBs to elevate the topic politically and develop recommendations for COP26.
ECO did not forget the rules over all this. How could we after the showdown on Article 6 last year? But there is so much more: ECO hopes parties continue to engage constructively in the operationalization of the Enhanced Transparency Framework. And get your act together and agree on five year common timeframes for NDCs – the earlier you agree the easier it will be to include them in your NDCs. In the past, market mechanisms undermined ambition and environmental integrity. So learn from history and don’t repeat it. Only fools make the same mistake twice. Rules on Article 6 can only be agreed if they avoid any form of double counting, ensure social and environmental safeguards, especially the rights of indigenous peoples, and phase out Kyoto credits. ECO is aware that constructive negotiation often means getting the big picture right and not insisting on all details. But Article 6 is different – here the details make all the difference. Only by insisting on the principles and details of robust rules, can a good outcome be agreed. So we count on you, the EU, AOSIS, the LDCs, New Zealand – stand your ground and only agree to an outcome with robust and strong rules that account for what is actually emitted in the atmosphere.