Etiquetado: ADP

ECO’s 1-2-3 for Parties at this ADP

Has the extreme winter weather that’s gripped North America, the devastating flooding in the UK or the [insert your own top-of-mind climate-related disaster here] made a case for more ambitious action with you and your Party yet? If not, the release of Working Group II’s 5th assessment report on climate impacts at the end of this month surely will. ECO has long said 2014 must be the year of ambition, so let’s start off on the right foot and make the most of our five days together in Bonn.

There are 3 tasks this ADP session must deliver on to ensure that a draft text is developed by Lima and that countries come to the Ban Ki-moon Summit with ambitious pledges for Paris to close the gap in the near-term.

EIN: Agree on the structure and process for developing a draft negotiating text for this year. We all know what building blocks will form the basis of the deal in Paris — mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity building — but now it’s time to get into the specifics. It’s imperative that critical elements, like the legal architecture for the 2015 agreement including the compliance regime; an MRV framework that will ensure transparency and environmental integrity; a review mechanism to ratchet up ambition over time; and progress on fleshing out the loss and damage mechanism agreed in Warsaw, not fall off the table.
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Cheers to the Technology Executive Committee!

ECO has noticed with great appreciation that the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) is continuing to move towards greater transparency. Ever since its inception 2 years ago, the TEC has laid the foundation for transparency with their adoption of webcasting and inclusion of observers in thematic dialogues. In the meeting that just ended last week, the TEC outshone its own record of inclusiveness by inviting BINGO; RINGO; ENGO; and IGO observers to take part in many of the thematic task forces. To boot, the secretariat will begin to post notes of the meetings on the TT: Clear website.
ECO toasts the TEC members and secretariat, especially Chair Gabriel Blanco and Vice-Chair Kuni Shimada, for their insightful leadership. Congratulations TEC – cheers to you!
Other thematic bodies, you’re invited to follow suit.

Let’s imagine a better future for all

ECO often wonders how negotiators explain how they spend their time in Bonn. Do they go home and talk about the shopping in Bad Godesberg, the exquisite combination of German bratwurst and Pilsner, or how they ingeniously prevented agreement on binding commitments and successfully deflected pressure on their country to take action and prevent a climatic disasters?

Just imagine if, for once, we could all go home and enthusiastically announce that we had taken concrete decisions to support expanded deployment of renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) technologies. Both of these things will deliver low-cost clean energy for households, create ecologically sound jobs, and ensure a livable world for our children.

All of this is what’s possible in Bonn at the ADP alongside exploration of technological solutions with high mitigation potential. This has the potential to demonstrate that the UNFCCC can deliver results, and maybe also encourage negotiators to be more willing to make more difficult decisions on other political issues elsewhere in these halls.

As Parties prepare for the technical workshops, ECO suggest that they bear the following questions in mind:

  • What specific decisions can the UNFCCC take to accelerate and expand existing initiatives on RE & EE that are proving to be effective?

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