Wouldn’t you agree that sometimes the most satisfying results come from a slow but steady journey with unwavering commitment to what is right? ECO has seen negotiators make steady, – if slow – progress this session in clarifying their views and finding options to move us closer towards success at COP24. That is right, and – what is also right is that parties need to deal with the crunch issues, – particularly finance.
The task for the next few months is huge: COP24 in Katowice must deliver the action package needed to put the Paris Agreement into full motion. As Parties prepare to continue negotiations in Bangkok, they could benefit from guidance from our Presidential Poles. The Polish Presidency needs to articulate its vision for COP24. A) Landing a robust rulebook which enables ambition. B) Ensuring that finance is flowing to enable climate action on the ground. And C) taking the Talanoa Dialogue to the next level so countries together signal that they will raise climate ambition by 2020.
But the UNFCCC process is not the only gig in town. There are a bunch of upcoming events which can make or break success at COP24.
- At the Petersberg Dialogue and the Ministerial of Climate Action (MoCA), ministers need to deepen their understanding of how to craft a COP24 outcome which best supports the implementation of the Paris Agreement. They must also send signals that they are acting in good faith on finance to unlock climate action.
- At the Global Climate Action Summit, state and non-state actors can build confidence in the changes in the real economy which make it easier for countries and non-state actors alike to increase climate ambition, public finance and actions to tackle climate impacts.
- At the September meeting of the ExCom of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, governments need to take on board key messages from the Suva Dialogue, including the need to advance the work on innovative sources to generate additional finance.
- The UN General Assembly will be a crucial moment for Heads of States to reaffirm their commitment to the Paris Agreement. They must signal that they will make the ambition mechanism work by enhancing their NDCs, ensuring adequate and predictable flows of finance from developed countries to enable emission reductions and address climate impacts.
- The IPCC 1.5°C report launch will be part of the input to countries and non-state actors’ reality check on ambition: the Talanoa Dialogue. Following its release, countries need to have an honest conversation about the consequences of inaction on lives and livelihoods around the world, using the Talanoa Dialogue as a springboard for increasing ambition.
- At the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Annual Meetings, finance ministers and multilateral development banks have the opportunity to demonstrate that financing will be mobilized with the leadership of developed countries to achieve the transformation needed.
