Finland: Still the Gender Champion
http://www.isisinternational.
Copenhagen, Denmark (10 December 2009) – Finland has been hailed as the
champion of women and gender rights in the climate change talks here at
the Bella Centre. Finland, along with Liberia was among the first to
articulate the need for greater women’s participation in the process. It
has also earmarked some 500,000 Euros to fund the participation of
Southern women, particularly those from Africa.
“Finland has put their money where their mouth is, and contributed 500,000
Euros for the participation of women and building their capacity in this
process,” Minu Hemnati of Gender CC – Women for Climate Justice asserted.
For its part, the country’s Ministry of the Environment Director on
Climate Change Sirkka Haunia pledged continuous commitment on women and
gender issues in the climate talks. “We will continue our support. We
would also like to see countries integrating gender into their national
adaption programme of actions (NAPAs),” she added.
Finland has also been supportive of the women and gender constituency’s
proposed text in the Shared Vision or the preamble of the outcome document
of the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The text reads:
“The full integration of gender perspectives is essential to effective
action on all aspects of climate change, including adaptation, mitigation,
technology sharing, financing, and capacity building. The advancement of
women, their leadership and meaningful participation, and their engagement
as equal stakeholders in all climate related processes and implementation
must be guaranteed.”
The “Gender Champion of the Week” is being organised by the Gender CC-
Women for Climate Justice to recognise governments that are articulating
strong interventions on gender and provide significant support for women
in the climate talks. Other nominees were Bangladesh, the Solomon Islands
and Lesotho.
Another round of nominees will be selected next week, which is expected to
be more intense as world leaders arrive to approve the outcome of the
process.
Ban Ki-moon reasserts leadership in Copenhagen climate talks
Danish text raised 'trust issues' between rich and poor countries but won't derail deal, says UN secretary-general
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/09/ban-ki-moon-copenhagen
Ban Ki-moon reasserts leadership in Copenhagen climate talks
Danish text raised 'trust issues' between rich and poor countries but won't derail deal, says UN secretary-general
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 December 2009 16.57 GMT
The United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has re-asserted ownership over the Copenhagen climate change meeting after the "trust issues" between rich and poor nations were exposed by a leaked draft agreement. He said he was confident of getting a deal for immediate action on global warming.
In an interview with the Guardian, Ban said he believed the negotiations remained on course for a strong deal, sweetened with the early release of
$10bn in aid to poor countries and set down in international law within six months.
He was also adamant that deal would hinge on the core elements of the Kyoto protocol, which developing countries feared was being sabotaged in the so-called Danish text leaked to the Guardian yesterday. The text, prepared in secret by the Danish hosts, was interpreted by developing nations as favouring the rich nations they hold responsible for global warming.
The UN chief sees a climate change deal as his legacy, and has insisted on drawing world leaders into the negotiations, betting they have the authority to make the hard choices on the environmental future for their countries. But some have criticised negotiations that are going on outside the official UN forum.
Ban was determined to set a firm six-month deadline for any political deal agreed in Copenhagen to be given the full force of international law. The timing mirrors an appeal by the UK prime minister, Gordon Brown, in the Guardian this week. The push for a six-month deadline indicates growing unease about allowing the climate change negotiations to drift, once the summit is over.
The crucial element of reaching an agreement was $10bn in short-term aid for the countries that would suffer the worst consequences of climate change. "We have been talking a lot most recently with developing countries and small island developing states. They are the most concerned countries and they seem to agree to this idea of $10bn," he said.
Ban admitted that the uproar over the leaked Danish text had exposed the distrust between the industrialised and developing countries. But he downplayed its repercussions, noting he had been in constant contact with the Danish prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and that he had been easing matters over with developing countries. "I have been very consciously engaging with developing countries," he said. "Even if there have been some trust issues, we have been bridging this gap as much as we can. This is what I am going to continue to do."
He was also adamant that the essence of the Kyoto agreement — that industrialised countries take responsibility for global warming — would survive. "What is know as common but differentiated responsibility principle will be maintained in Copenhagen," Ban said.
Next week brings the climate change negotiations to their moment of truth, with the arrival of more than 100 world leaders in Copenhagen. Ban said he was waiting for the rich industrialised countries to promise steeper emissions cuts. But he specifically ruled out further action from America because of Barack Obama's difficulties with Congress. "Now we are approaching this end-game and I am sure people will come out with more serious targets," he said. "Not all developed countries have come out with ambitious targets."
But in an important shift, Ban acknowledged that rapidly emerging economies like China, India, Brazil and Indonesia, which will be the major sources of future emissions, no longer slot neatly into the Kyoto view of the world. Kyoto divided the world into the industrialised countries, which were responsible for global warming, and the developing countries, which would suffer its worst effects.
"China, India and South Korea have made it quite clear that they will have domestic regulations," he said. "This is quite important even if they will not be internationally bound I am sure they will be domestically bound."
Copenhagen talks open with warnings against renegotiating Convention
Copenhagen, 8 December 2009 (Meena Raman) - At the opening sessions of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, the developing countries warned the developed countries not to continue to attempt to shift their responsibilities in the global effort to combat climate change onto the developing countries.
The G77 and China said it rejected attempts by the developed countries to push for a new legally binding instrument that would revoke the principle of common and differentiated responsibilities. The Africa Group said Kyoto Protocol must survive and continue to function as the most important implementing instrument of the Convention. It was opposed to the re-negotiation of the UNFCCC, which could lead to the complete collapse of the fight against climate change.
The Copenhagen Climate talks kicked off in Copenhagen on 7 December with a welcoming ceremony addressed by the Prime Minister of Denmark, which was followed by the opening sessions of the 15th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC and then the 5th meeting of the Parties in the Kyoto Protocol (CMP).
The first day also saw the opening plenary of the 8th session of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) as well as the opening plenary of the 10th session of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP).
The Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, at the welcoming ceremony, said that the challenge before Parties is to translate political will into a strong common approach to forge an agreement that will provide for effective global solutions. He said that Denmark had been conducting intensive consultations in preparation for this conference and has been engaging with world leaders. There was need to develop an agreement that is both acceptable to all Parties and is at the same time strong and ambitious, just and equitable, effective and operational.
Rasmussen said that 110 heads of states and government will be coming to Copenhagen next week in the concluding days of the Conference. The agreement that world leaders should adopt next Friday (18 December) must be founded on the legal principles of the Climate Change Convention and it must respond to all aspects of the mandates agreed upon in Bali two years ago. It must seek to capture progress achieved within the negotiations, both under the Convention and under the Kyoto Protocol. It must launch immediate action, he added.
Also at the opening ceremony, Dr. Rajeandra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report had specified that if temperature increase is to be limited to between 2 to 2.4 degree C, global emissions must peak no later than 2015. Some may even question the goal of 2 degree as a ceiling because this would lead to sea-level rise on account of thermal expansion of 0.4 to 1.4 meters. This increase added to the effect of melting of snow and ice across the globe, and could submerge several small island states and Bangladesh, he added.
Referring to the recent incident of the stealing of the emails of scientists at the University of East Anglia, Pauchauri said that this showed that some would go to the extent of carrying out illegal acts as an attempt to discredit the IPCC. He defended the work of the IPCC, which he said has a record of transparent and objective assessment stretching over 21 years.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo De Boer, said that the cake that needs to come out of Copenhagen needs to have three layers. The bottom layer consists of an agreement on prompt implementation of action on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and capacity-building. The second layer consists of ambitious emission reduction commitments and actions, commitments on start up finance in the order of $10 billion per year, and long-term finance. The third layer or the icing consists of a shared vision on long-term cooperative action and a long-term global goal.
Following the opening ceremony, the opening plenary of the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15), was held. Connie Hedegaard, the Minister of Climate and Energy of Denmark, who was appointed President of COP15, said Denmark was committed to maximum progress in the two tracks - the Convention track and the Kyoto Protocol -- and to ensure successful and ambitious outcomes. She said that the political will has never been stronger and warned that if Parties missed this chance, it could take years, if ever, for an ambitious outcome.
Ambassador Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim of Sudan, Chair of the G77 and China, said we are now being told that we will only get a "politically binding agreement" in Copenhagen but we should use the remaining to fulfill the mandate given in Bali. "We reject attempts of developed countries to shift the responsibility of addressing climate change and its adverse effects on developing countries and their objective of concluding another legally binding instrument that would put together the obligations of developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol and similar actions of developing countries. This would revoke the principle of common but differentiated responsibility under the Convention by imposing these obligations as well on developing countries under the guise of a "shared vision".
The G77 and China said that the existing financial architecture has failed to deliver sufficient resources to address the threat of climate change. "We hope our partners will ensure the operationalisation of an effective financial mechanism under the Convention."
Citing recent UNFCCC data on GHG emissions from Annex 1 Parties between 1990 and 2007, the G77 Chair said that GHG emissions of developed countries increased by 11.2% excluding land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) and increased by 12.8%, including LULUCF. Many developed countries have yet to peak on their emissions, although having reached industrial development more than half a century ago. "On the contrary, developing countries are now being required to take the leadership in cutting emissions while developed countries are continuously increasing their emissions, and hence, over-occupying the global climate space."
The Group also stressed the need for an inclusive, transparent and open process throughout the Conference that will ensure that no one will be excluded from deliberations. It said that no parallel tracks of negotiations should be created nor should there be any hierarchy of decisions.
Algeria, speaking for the Africa Group expressed serious concern about the lack of progress in this process. It said that Africa will not put aside the historical responsibility of the developed world for climate change and the principle of common but differentiated responsibility which should not be undermined under any guise. Referring to the Kyoto Protocol, Algeria said that the UNFCCC has only one legally binding instrument and it must not be undermined. The Kyoto Protocol must survive and continue to function as the main and most important implementing instrument of the Convention. The Africa Group was firmly opposed to the re-negotiation of the UNFCCC, which could lead to the complete collapse of the fight against climate change. It also requested for a transparent and equitable High Level Segment at COP15 and this process must not be selective in nature.
Lesotho, speaking for the LDCs wanted to see outcomes on the two tracks of the AWG-KP and the AWG-LCA. LDCs want an outcome that is fair, inclusive and equitable and that takes into account the vulnerability of the LDCs. Adaptation is of high priority. It said that all LDCs have done their National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAS). It was discouraged that funds available for NAPAs was only USD200 million and hoped to see renewed pledges for the LDC Fund towards the USD2 billion that must be realized. Massively enhanced and scaled up financing was needed, with equitable arrangements for facilitating access by LDCs. Further, intellectual property rights must not be a barrier to the transfer of climate technologies
Grenada for AOASIS said that an ambitious outcome must address the threat from climate change which is commensurate with the scale of the problem. It wanted an internationally legally-binding outcome and will not accept a "political agreement". The final agreement must address the emissions by all major emitting countries based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. Temperature rise must be limited to being well below 1.5 degree C and GHG concentrations to 350 ppm.
Saudi Arabia also said that it cannot accept the re-negotiation of the Convention or to alter the balance of rights and obligations between Parties. Any agreement must cover all subjects and that it was not possible to resolve some issues and leave others behind. Referring to the East Anglia University "climate-gate", it said that the scandal was going to affect the level of trust and confidence in the IPCC. There was need for an international independent investigation on this matter, on whether the original data was deleted and altered.
Australia, speaking for the Umbrella Group (comprising mainly of developed countries who are not part of the European Union), said that it wants a resounding success at COP 15 with bold action and a strong outcome. There was need for maximizing credibility and trust among Parties. Its vision was to limit temperature rise to 2 degree C and for global emissions to be reduced by 50% by 2050, with the peaking of emissions as soon as possible. The Umbrella Group was willing to be subjected to the measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) that is robust. For a post-2012 agreement, quick and high-impact financing was needed especially for LDCs and SIDs who are vulnerable. This substantial increase in financing must also include the carbon markets. It said that there was an emerging consensus that for a Copenhagen accord, USD10 billion per year was needed by 2012 especially for LDCs and the most vulnerable. Referring to the various developed and developing country announcements on mitigation actions, it said that there was need to "internationalize" them so that Parties will stand behind them. To be environmentally effective, these actions should be subject to transparent reporting and review internationally. There cannot be a "business-as-usual" outcome. It said that there was need for a new legally binding treaty as soon as possible with a decision in the Copenhagen accord.
Sweden, speaking for the EU said it wanted a global and ambitious agreement that keeps temperature rise to less than 2 degree C and covers all the elements of the BAP. It must provide a framework for all Parties and environmental integrity was important and it must build on the Kyoto Protocol. Emissions must peak no later than 2020 and developed countries must reduce emissions in the range of 80-95% compared to 1990 levels and developing countries must also contribute. All who have capacity must increase their pledges. It said that the incremental cost for meeting the costs of adaptation and mitigation was USD 100 billion per year
Thanks to Gail Karlsson, Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for the listing below www.citnet.org/place/New+York
INTERNATIONAL
A series of international climate talks are leading up to the December 2009 Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, which is supposed to establish a new post-Kyoto Protocol agreement scheduled to take effect in 2012.
The latest session in Bonn ended August 14. According to the UN climate convention secretariat, plans currently offered by industrialized countries (other than the US) would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. President Obama has set a target of just reducing U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The scientists in the International Panel on Climate Change have said that emissions need to be cut between 25 and 40 percent from 1990 levels to prevent major impacts from heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels.
http://www.nytimes.com:80/
http://communities.
Upcoming climate meetings on the road to Copenhagen:
September 22 in New York, the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Event on Climate Change with world leaders at the opening of the UN General Assembly,
supported by events in New York September 21 -26, which Mayor Bloomberg has declared 'Climate Week NYC'.
September 24-25, the US-hosted G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, with leaders of countries representing 85% of the world's economies. On July 9 President Obama and the leaders of 16 other major economies called for G-20 finance ministers to lay out plans for how to increase financial resources to help developing nations create low-carbon growth plans and deploy clean energy technologies.
September 29 - October 9, Bangkok
November 2-6, Barcelona
December 7-18, Copenhagen Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Associated Press
Quest for new climate treaty begins in earnest
By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer Geir Moulson, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 1, 3:00 pm ET
POZNAN, Poland – Negotiators kicked off the final yearlong push Monday for a new climate change treaty — but with the U.S. government in transition, the European Union in disarray and a worldwide economic crisis, chances were hazy for a quick agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The outgoing U.S. delegation appointed by President George W. Bush said it would oppose specific targets for reducing global carbon emissions. That prompted delegates of the 190 countries at the conference to look forward to a more climate-friendly administration under President-elect Barack Obama.
"I'm delighted to see that the president-elect ... has put climate and energy policies very high on his political agenda, and I look forward to strong American leadership on the climate issue," said Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The conference, attended by more than 10,000 delegates and environmental activists, is working to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 countries to slash carbon emissions by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
Delegations have set next December as a deadline, giving their countries enough time to ratify the new pact for a smooth transition after 2012.
A key element in dispute is whether to adopt specific long-term and medium-term targets for slashing heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Scientists say the world must dramatically reduce carbon emissions within a few years, and reach 50 to 80 percent reductions by 2050.
Obama has pledged to reclaim a leading role for the United States in fighting global warming, with a drive to reduce U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and by a further 80 percent by 2050.
The EU has agreed on a 20 percent cut in emissions by 2020, but has not yet determined how its 27 members will combine to reach that goal.
U.S. delegate Harlan Watson said he expected no agreement on the reductions in Poznan.
"I don't think many parties are ready to sign on to any range at this time," Watson told reporters. He said any such agreement likely will "occur in the end game" in 12 months.
But Watson indicated his delegation would take a low profile in the talks, restricting its contributions to issues like technology research.
Climate talks have long been burdened by a conflict pitting the United States, which denounced Kyoto as imbalanced and harmful to its economy, against fast-developing countries like China, India and Brazil, which objected to measures that could limit development and their ability to ease poverty for millions.
The negotiations won a breakthrough last year when the developing countries agreed to help lower global emissions, as long as they received the technology and finances to move toward lower carbon economies.
Negotiators on Monday got a somber reminder of the costs of failure from the head of a Nobel Peace Prize-winning panel of U.N. climate scientists, Rajendra Pachauri. Those consequences include a potential meltdown of Greenland or Antarctic ice that could raise sea levels by several yards (meters), and a growing lack of water for millions of people by mid-century.
Emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases must level off by 2015 and then drop sharply to avert such disasters, he said.
Fogh Rasmussen warned against letting the global financial crisis divert attention from climate change.
"It is severe, it is urgent, but it must never serve as an excuse to neglect climate change," he told reporters, adding that the crisis was an opportunity "to transform our economy in a more sustainable low-carbon direction."
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed.
"Financial crises happened in the past and will happen in the future, but our work for the environment should be timeless," he said.
Associated Press writer Arthur Max contributed to this report.
Thanks to Gail Karlsson at Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) for the policy updates below
On October 9, Columbia University’s Earth Institute and its director Jeffrey Sachs hosted a discussion on the Kyoto Protocol and ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions with Yvo de Boer, head of the secretariat for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. A webcast of the event can be viewed at http://www.earth.columbia.edu/
Group of Eight
Bali Climate Negotiations 2007
Delegates rise to applaud the decision to adopt the "Bali roadmap" for a future international agreement on climate change. http://unfccc.int/2860.php
US negotiators said they recognized the seriousness of the scientific reports. Yet they were reluctant to even talk about specific commitments or actions to cut emissions in the post-Kyoto period. The EU - and other industrialized countries that made binding commitments to emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol - agreed to cut their emissions by between 25 and 40 percent by 2020. The EU, led by Germany, pressed unsuccessfully for a similar commitment by the US, which earlier backed out of the Kyoto Protocol. Instead, the US handed out invitations to its own parallel process discussing voluntary measures to be taken by the governments of "major economies" (including China and India, which will soon surpass the US in total - but not per capita - greenhouse gas emissions).
Towards the end of the conference, Al Gore arrived in Bali - after accepting the Nobel peace prize, along with the scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In a passionate speech, he said that the US was principally responsible for blocking progress on battling climate change at Bali, and urged the delegations to agree on language that could be build upon after a new US administration is in place in January 2009. (The agreement for the post-Kyoto agreement is expected to be finalized by 2009, so it can be ratified by governments and enter into force by 2012.)
The governments of developing countries are also reluctant to undertake binding emission limits, because they need economic growth to rise out of poverty, and because they perceive that the US is not taking the lead on reducing its own climate emissions. Su Wei, a member of the Chinese delegation in Bali said: "I just wonder whether it's fair to ask developing countries like China to take on binding targets," Su said Friday. "I think there is much room for the United States to think whether it's possible to change (its) lifestyle and consumption patterns in order to contribute to the protection of the global climate." www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf
Though not agreeing to binding emissions limits, China was widely viewed as a positive force at the conference. Developing countries expressed their willingness to pursue more carbon-friendly development strategies. But they also sought commitments from developed countries on transfers of clean technologies to help them cut emissions, and funding from industrialised states to help them adapt to the threats of rising seas, more frequent extreme weather events, falling crop yields and increased migration.
In overnight talks lasting beyond the planned Friday deadline, India (representing the group of developing countries and China) presented draft language committing themselves to 'nationally appropriate mitigation actions' in the context of sustainable development, if they were supported by developed countries with technology and enabled by finance and capacity building 'in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner'. This text was supported by the EU, but the US delegation would not agree - and was thereupon loudly booed by the other delegations, in an unprecedented show of undiplomatic behavior. After Japan made a noncommittal statement, and Canada and Australia remained silent, the head of the US delegation, Paula Dobriansky relented, saying, "We will join the consensus."
However, shortly afterwards, the White House began voicing reservations. A White House official told of “serious concerns” that the agreement had let developing countries off too lightly in their commitments to cut emissions, saying “Emissions reductions principally by the developed world will be insufficient to confront the global problem effectively.” European officials expressed astonishment at this, saying the US delegation was in near-continuous contact with Washington in the final hours of negotiations, even while agreeing to the wording of the text that described developing countries’ future obligations. “It’s extraordinary to try to go back on this." Later, a senior US official told the Financial Times: “I would not regard the White House statement as backing away from the consensus.” He said “it is focused on what has to happen next”. www.ft.com
