rvoorhaar's blog

The world is now watching whether the freshly re-elected Obama administration will take renewed interest in tackling climate change, and put some effort into bringing Congress along with him.

What a difference a year makes? 2012 has been all about tying up the loose ends of the Durban package, which by the end of Doha should form a nice bow of an amended Kyoto, concluded LCA, and work plans for both ADP tracks. (And ECO won’t object if any Party would like to throw ambition into that mix!!) Today’s ADP roundtable will begin to flesh out what the work programme to reach a 2015 Protocol should cover. ECO has a few initial thoughts.  

Five years after Parties endorsed the Bali Roadmap, we are far down the road on several REDD+ issues, but all over the map on others. 

A staggering 13 billion emissions permits are left over from the first Kyoto commitment period. Hot air is looming large – and threatens the viability of CP2 and any future climate deal.

The Polish government lives in the past. Because of that it believes Poland should be treated as a special case forever. It fails to acknowledge that a lot has changed in the country since the 1990s. Poland is a developed country now. But instead of strengthening Poland’s climate policies to further enhance competitiveness, its government blocks any action on climate change and threatens the country’s future.

For the first time in the history of UNFCCC negotiations an Arab COP has officially begun. Qatar, of the rich Persian Gulf, is hosting the 18th Conference of Parties. A lot is at stake in these 2 weeks and we are all expecting the Presidency and the Parties  to deliver a successful, balanced outcome that will ensure climate action pre and post 2020. Our eyes are on Qatar and all the other Arab countries as negotiating Parties. 

The Adaptation Committee has worked hard to prepare its ambitious three-year work plan, with only one meeting held in 2012. In order to be able to perform this necessary leadership role, ECO urges in particular developed country Parties to provide the necessary means for the work of the Adaptation Committee.

Now you all know that ECO doesn’t like to be rude to Parties, but surely all would admit that Australia is carrying excess carbon weight and needs to lose some carbon flab. So ECO was delighted to hear a few weeks back that Australia was signing up as a member of the KP2 carbon weight loss club. ECO had visions of a trim physique of a zero-carbon economy.

Here in Doha, Parties will decide on an appeals procedure that would consider decisions made by the CDM Executive Board. It is crucial that civil society representatives are eligible to launch an appeal. But wait, ECO heard that some Parties would like to grant the right to appeal to one side (investors) only? Dear delegates, this is not a game of two halves but two sides of the same coin. Indeed, we would like to remind you that any appeals procedure must serve the interests of all affected stakeholders.

To our freshly arrived negotiators, get ready for a major wake up call (or at least a loud and not particularly polite noise) on finance, when the countries most vulnerable to climate change will be rightly asking: what happens when Fast Start Finance runs out at the end of this year?