ECO Newsletter

“We represent a number of nations, like my own, that face extinction”. Yesterday, the President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, issued a warning. In a packed press conference, leaders from across the world came together to call for radical action on the climate crisis. Make no mistake, the path we are currently on will render species, cultures and even entire nations at risk of extinction. We cannot, and must not, allow this to happen.

Mohamed Nasheed, the former President of the Maldives, hammered the point home.“We are not prepared to die,” he said, “and the Maldives have no intention of dying … If we continue business as usual, then we will not survive”.

We support these calls for action and we have been fighting hard to get a robust Paris Rulebook and ensure enhanced NDCs by 2020 – but we will do more.

Whatever does or does not happen in Katowice, it is clear now that something new is emerging. Across the world, the people are rising. From the school strikes in Sweden to the Sunrise Movement in the United States, people are rebelling against their governments.

These movements may have different names and different faces, but they are one: a pledge to tell the truth and to call an emergency an emergency.

Dear Negotiators and Ministers,

We know you are tired. We know it’s been a long two weeks. But your work isn’t done yet. As we inch closer to the end, with the COP decision coming, ECO is worried about the lack of rights we are seeing in the Rulebook. As well as the lack of ambition we are seeing from some countries.

Holding global temperature rise to 1.5°C is necessary to protect and promote human rights – we know that, you know that, and the IPCC SR 1.5 confirmed it. Refusing to welcome the IPCC SR1.5 (you know who you are) doesn’t make it any less true. Keeping warming to no more than 1.5°C – which the science tells us is necessary for preserving life as we know it and which the Paris Agreement requires that we aim for – can only be done with people-centered, rights-based climate action. This is because people-centered climate action comes with greater legitimacy and ownership by all. It is easier to implement, better accepted and studies show that it turns into more successful mitigation and adaptation.

That’s where you come in. We call on you, dearest Ministers, to ensure that the implementation of the Paris Agreement is guided by human rights.

ECO is shocked – shocked! – that developed countries are trying to renegotiate the Paris Agreement and re-write the Paris language. It’s only been three years, delegates! You can’t have forgotten those late nights and hard-fought paragraphs already. And, even if you have, since the UNFCCC updated their website it’s really quite easy to find the Paris Agreement. Scroll down to Article 8 (you’ll find it after – and not under – Article 7) and there, in full colour, you will read the words “addressing loss and damage”, “irreversible and permanent” and enhancing finance on a “cooperative and facilitative basis”.

You may feel that you’re being clever with all this language jiggery-pokery, but what you are are being is short-sighted, hard-hearted and working against ALL of our interests. You can’t write “loss and damage” out of existence. Loss and damage will affect us all, but its burden is disproportionally carried by the poorest and most vulnerable. We, as humanity, all suffer if we don’t live up to previous promises to address the worst impacts of climate change that are facing the most vulnerable. That would leave an irreversible and permanent stain on our souls.

It’s the end of week two. We’re all a little tired, emotionally spent, and perhaps looking forward to a lovely break.

Therefore, at the end of a rather dismal COP in a rather dreary climate, it is high time we spread a bit of sunshine! Today, we choose to recognise the vulnerable countries at these negotiations with a Ray of the COP.

Despite facing existential threats from climate change they are engaging patiently and in good faith, with those who choose to deny the science, deny their right to loss and damage finance, and deny previous hard-fough decisions, like the Paris Agreement.

The Pacific Island Developing States released a statement calling it like it is: “COP24 IS A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY”.

The IPCC report has detailed the risk of the survival of island communities due to extreme weather and rising sea levels. The statement made it clear of the “absolute necessity” to include Loss and Damage (Article 8 of the Paris Agreement) in the Paris Rulebook for Transparency, Finance, and the Global Stocktake.

Specifically, we would like to recognise the Ministers of Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji and the Leaders of the Maldives and Tuvalu who have made such powerful statements in plenary that included:

“Whether you welcome, note or ignore the science, this is catastrophic for humanity” – Vanuatu Foreign Minister, Ralph Regenvanu

“The truth is we had no choice but to do our part.” 

It. Is. Time!

Throughout the two weeks of negotiations there has been one country that we keep coming back to. Yes, there have been many called out for blocking negotiations, or for not doing enough to support implementation at home, but one stands out above all else.

Our hosts, Poland.

You see, the Polish Presidency has not created space for ambition here at COP 24, even with a complete understanding what outcome is needed. We really should accept by now that they will avoid working on support packages and revision of NDCs. However, the blame is not just on the presidency because the Polish government is making their job more difficult, it is the opposite of the support that should exist. It is difficult when the government and ministries are pushing the Presidency to consider the Polish agenda or the Presidency being understaffed, which is influencing the outcome of this COP.

So, what has the Polish Government been doing at COP? Well, the Polish Government and ministers are promoting coal or so called “clean coal” during side events, not only in the COP at the Polish Pavilion, but also at other conferences. We did try to avoid this during meetings before the COP, where the governmental officials were informed that such events would not be welcomed by the global community.

At the time of writing, we do not yet know the final outcome of the COP in Poland. However, ECO feels confident enough to give Parties a strong reminder of what is at stake and what has to be done in the next year at home to comply collectively with the tasks set by the ratified Paris Agreement.

The recently projected industrial CO2 emissions for 2018 by the Global Carbon Budget project show an increase of 2.7% for this year compared to 2017. Another record year – the highest since mankind discovered fire millennia ago. And arguably the highest ever total increase, at more than 1 billion tons of CO2 in just one year. Fossil fuels for energy and industrial processes, including methane, now constitute about 80% of all global GHG emissions. At the same time CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have reached around 410 ppm, the highest in several million years.

If countries, in particular large and rich climate polluters, continue along our current path, entire nations – particularly vulnerable island states – and many fragile ecosystem, like the Arctic and tropical coral reefs, are at risk of survival. We are reaching critical tipping points where terrestrial ice melting might cause irreversible run-away sea level rise continuing well beyond the year 2100, changing the physical map of countries and putting hundreds of millions of people living at the sea shore at risk for evacuation – to say the least for the plethora of climate impacts already affecting people across the globe.

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to the adverse impacts of climate change and has been at the forefront of adaptation planning and practice for over a decade. It has the proud aim to be one of the most resilient countries to the effects of climate change globally by 2030.

However, Bangladesh has recently been hit by severe floods and cyclones which have become, and will continue to be, both more frequent and more intense, leading to considerable loss and damage attributable to developed-country-induced climate change.

Hence, the government of Bangladesh yesterday shared its experience in Katowice on developing a national mechanism on loss and damage through a two year pilot project. Bangladesh invites the rest of the world to come and participate in the exercise to both offer knowledge and support, as well as learn from its experiences.

This clearly demonstrates that loss and damage from human induced climate change is real and happening, and the vulnerable developing countries have agency and are not simply relying on international support to deal with their harsh reality.