MBrockley's blog

A long, awkward silence settled over the 100+ delegates and observers crammed into the tiny Koch meeting room. In the Cooperative Sectoral Approaches spin-off group, the chair had asked negotiators for ideas on how to get to a conclusion on bunkers by Doha. Delegates, some standing and others seated on the floor, didn’t seem to have an answer.

It’s about as big as the combined yearly CO2 emissions from Europe and the US. Yes, we are talking about the gigantic, 10 gigatonne loophole that could undermine the whole purpose of a second Kyoto commitment period. ECO is clear, Parties must pop this “hot air” bubble this year, unless they have 10 gigatonnes of unannounced additional mitigation action up their sleeves.

“First Place Fossils go to the USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and China.

Last week, we heard what equity means to you. It seems to us that many nations are deflecting responsibility away from themselves and on to others. We want to be able to be responsible for our future – but your actions now will determine whether we are still able to stop runaway climate change.

Why are these talks not focusing more on intergenerational equity?

Despite the Convention objective in Article 2 to stabilize emissions before food production is threatened, impacts of climate change on food production are already being felt around the world. Floods have decimated wheat fields in Pakistan and rice fields in Thailand. Heat waves have seriously reduced yields of Russian wheat and US maize. Drought cost Texas agriculture US$8 billion last year and tens of thousands of lives in the Horn of Africa.

C.B., open-minded, progressive type (lonely-hearted since that wonderful fortnight in Marrakech 10 years ago) seeks forward-looking, equally open-minded partners for serious, mutually-productive, action-oriented long-term engagement. Available to meet up 3-6 pm today [Tuesday] and tomorrow [Wednesday] in Plenary 2 throughout the Durban Forum on Capacity Building.

The 2020 deadline for the entry into force of legally binding commitments for all Parties is too late to meet the 2°C target unless pre-2020 ambition can be urgently and equitably increased. To do so, developed countries must step up in the KP and LCA, while the ADP can also help raise ambition in mitigation and the means of implementation.