Download Media note for Warsaw COP

Media Note for Warsaw COP
The United Nations climate negotiations will resume at the United Nations Climate Conference in
Warsaw, Poland, from 11 November 2013 until 22 November 2013. This is the annual ‘Conference of
the Parties’ (COP 19) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and its Kyoto Protocol
(CMP 9), where ‘decisions’ and ‘amendments’ are agreed in order to set the international legal
framework for responding to climate change.
At the UN, the timetable for a new international agreement on climate change to be concluded in
2015 requires significant progress at the Warsaw conference. This includes on both of the elements
of the negotiations: enhancing action pre-2020 (known as 'Workstream 2'); and agreeing a
framework for action post-2020 ('Workstream 1').
The Conference itself will involve several parts including meetings of the subsidiary technical bodies
of the UN Convention, the principal meeting of the Kyoto Protocol and ongoing negotiations in the
two workstreams (pre and post 2020) of the "Durban Platform for Enhanced Action" which is
mandated to conclude in 2015.
In this context, three key emerging stories at the Warsaw Conference will be:
1. The choice between clean and dirty energy
2. How to equitably determine each country's level of effort in a new agreement
3. How to finance climate action and the response to climate impacts, including 'loss and damage.'
"Global citizens are resisting tax-payer handouts to dirty energy corporations, scaling up local
resistance to new dirty energy projects and highlighting the unfairness that condemns over a billion
people to no access to any form of energy. Instead people are engaged in building real community
energy solutions to the climate crisis. These peoples' demands must be heard in Warsaw if we are to
prevent climate catastrophe." Asad Rehman, Head of International Climate at Friends of the Earth
EWNI said.
Background
1. Clean Versus Dirty Energy
The energy sector is the leading cause of human greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and so we will not
be able to live within the remaining emissions budget without urgently transforming this sector
away from dirty energy and toward local, community controlled renewable energy.
In Warsaw this choice will be particularly pertinent as governments discuss under Workstream 2 the
possibility of a focused work plan on 'energy' and many governments propose a fund to support a
'global feed in tariff' to drive investment in renewable energy at a community level.
(For information on a Global Feed In Tariff – please see our report
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/powering_africa_summary.pdf
And for a potential model
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefing_notes/extract_reclaiming_power.pdf)
These discussions will be contrasted with the Polish Government's decision to hold a "World Coal
Conference" on the sidelines of the UN talks (Nov 18-19), a decision that has drawn substantial
criticism and is expected to draw significant activism.
Friends of the Earth groups from across the world will be organising a major stunt at the Summit.
The Warsaw Conference itself comes at the conclusion of a "Global Month of Action Energy" known
as www.Reclaimpower.net which was jointly organised by Friends of the Earth and included actions
across the globe to resist dirty energy and push for people-focused solutions to the climate crisis.
Organisations participating in Reclaim Power included: Jubilee South APMDD, La Via Campesina,
Friends of the Earth International, GAIA, Push Europe, Greenpeace, 350.org, LDC-Watch, and the Pan
African Climate Justice Alliance.
Reclaim Power will conclude during the Warsaw Conference with an international day of solidarity
with environmental defenders, including the Idle No More Movement in North America, the
anniversary of the murder of anti-oil activist Ken Saro Wiwa in Nigeria, and the "Arctic 30" on the
10th of November; and a day highlighting community energy alternatives from 6th to the 11th of
November.
(see our human windmill outside St Pauls Cathedral)
2. Setting fair and effective emission cut targets
The current pledges of emission reductions by countries by 2020 are drastically below the level
needed to be on track to prevent catastrophic climate change. Some rich countries, such as the
European Union, are proposing that they have higher domestic emissions in 2020 than they have
today.
In fact, Warsaw will open with developed countries pledging to take less climate action than
developing countries.
Hence, a key focus of the Durban Platform Workstream 2 is how to raise developed countries'
targets, in line with what the science and a fair sharing of effort suggests is required (domestic
reductions of at least 40% on 1990 levels rather than the 0-12% currently proposed).
In light of the IPCC's findings that in order to limit warming to below 2C or 1.5C, humanity must
respect an "emissions budget", which represents the total amount of GHG emissions since the
industrial revolution, it is expected that governments focused on effective solutions to the climate
crisis will force consideration of this issue at Warsaw.[1]
Similarly, under Workstream 1 (the post-2020 agreement), governments will need to divide up the
mitigation effort required to live within the 'emissions budget' in order to ensure the internationally
agreed temperature target is met.
Current proposals on the table by the United States and the European Union suggest they want each
country to merely 'pledge' what they intend to do, without reference to whether that individual
effort is sufficient or fair, or whether the aggregate effort 'adds up' to what is needed.
Experts and civil society are calling for a process where indicators, such as total historical emissions
and current GDP per capita, are used to determine fair shares of effort for each country, and to
ensure the total 'adds up' to the total cut in emissions needed to stay within an emissions budget.
The framework for the process by which countries make commitments in the post-2020 agreement
could be a major outcome from the Warsaw conference.
As part of the EU’s own internal discussions on its climate and energy package to 2030, Friends of
the Earth is calling on the EU to adopt binding targets by 2030 on 1990 levels of:
60% greenhouse gas emissions reductions
50% energy efficiency target
45% renewable energy target
(http://foeeurope.org/2030-climate-plan)
3. Finance for climate action and loss and damage
A key obligation under the UN climate convention is for developed countries to provide finance for
climate action and adaptation to impacts in developing countries.
Warsaw will host a ministerial level meeting on the issue of finance, with the need to determine
goals for climate finance in the midterm (pre-2020) pressing.
There is serious concern that the US will try to advance proposals to count 'private finance' (i.e.
investments from the private sector, not finance contributed by governments) toward the
internationally agreed target of $100 billion in climate finance a year by 2020. Observers are
concerned that counting private finance could be used as an excuse from developed countries to
avoid their obligations to provide scaled-up, new and additional climate finance.
This discussion will be particularly contested given studies that suggest as little as 10% of previously
provided 'climate finance' was actually new , and not merely existing aid or loans repackaged.
http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/78/f/840/Issue_brief_leveraging_private_finance_lessons.pdf
These talks will take place as negotiations continue on the issue of 'Loss and Damage', which
emerged as an important outcome of the last UN climate conference in Doha.
The issue of Loss and Damage reflects that given the projected levels of climate change caused by
the lack of leadership in reducing emissions by developed countries, many communities will suffer
impacts that are 'beyond adaptation' and so an international mechanism is needed to support
communities to address these impacts.
A failure by governments to agree on stronger emission reduction targets and finance levels to
support substantial mitigation and adaptiation action in developing countries will intensify the
political pressure on the issue of loss and damage at Warsaw.
4. Other technical issues at the Warsaw Conference
Technical work will also be undertaken on negotiators on reviewing and ensuring that governments
have ratified (converted into domestic law) the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol
which was agreed in Doha.
Similarly, governments will consider the need for 'new' carbon market mechanisms against the
backdrop of the current collapse of the price of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits and
lack of demand in the EU system. The price collapse is driven by the lack of strong emission targets
by developed countries and could be intensified if more sources or supplies of credits are made
available.
It is not expected that much progress will be made on these mechanisms, or on a proposed
'framework' body to count the transfer of various carbon market units, while developed country
emission targets remain so low and the efficacy of 'carbon trading' so questionable. This may
contrast with discussions on "Non Market Approaches", including carbon taxes, regulation,
technology transfer and a fund for a global feed-in-tarrif.
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/submissions/joint_submission_on_nonmar.pdf
Forests will also be a contested area and there will be discussions on rules to deal with nonpermance of land use projects in the CDM. Efforts by some countries to weaken the current rules on
non-permance (which means temporary credits are issued for forest projects which must be revalidated) are driven by a desire to create fully fungible forest credits which can be traded on
international carbon markets. Given the current low prices and lack of demand in carbon markets,
revisions to rules which lower environmental integrity in order to increase supply will be resisted by
many countries and civil society observers.
The Conference will also see consideration of procedural changes, to address concerns that Russia,
Belarus and the Ukraine used at the last climate meetings in Bonn to block discussion on many
issues, with some risk that procedural blocking by these countries will continue, holding up the talks
in their preliminary days.
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For further information, interviews, briefings or quotes on these topics or others from Asad
Rehman, Head of International Climate at FOE EWNI, and Head of Delegation for Friends of the Earth
International
[email protected] , +44 7956 210332, local number to be advised.
Information and documents will also be tweeted @chilledasad100
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[1] Discussion of the IPCC's proposed 'emissions budgets' and their relation to commonly discussed
'emissions pathways' for 2C and 1.5C can be found in this recently released Stockholm Environment
Institute discussion brief.
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