Tag: USA

Fossil of the Day

Submitted by Anonymous on April 4, 2011 - 11:09pm

Extra Extra! The US wins the first Fossil of the Day for 2011!

This fossil is formally presented for their complete refusal to accept the concept of a common/standardized accounting system for measuring national emissions reductions towards their target.

During Sunday’s workshop on national mitigation targets and strategies, the US made it exceptionally clear that they do not envision a common accounting framework. ECO noted the continual expressions of that view by the US, while noticing that the US seemed to be pretty alone in that view. The irony of that position became even more glaring as the US raised several questions in the developing country session regarding a common framework for developing business-as-usual scenarios for developing emissions. The irony wasn’t lost on ECO. One can only hope that the US will “review the tape” and remember that the US has always been a strong proponent of rigorous rules. Maybe a relaxing spa treatment in Bangkok will refresh their memory.

Tags:

Fossil

Fossil of the Day

United States

United States of America

Region:

USA

Related Event:

Bangkok 2011

Anonymous's blog

Comparisons Ain’t Odious

Submitted by Anonymous on April 3, 2011 - 9:32pm

The word ‘comparable’ in English carries a double meaning, meaning both ‘capable of being compared’, and ‘similar or equivalent’.

The capability of being compared remains a vital component to the evolving climate regime – otherwise we have no climate regime and will be in a completely bottom up world, with all the lack of ambition and massive destruction that this implies. The targets of developed countries need to be addressed through mandatory and uniform accounting rules, so that ‘special national circumstances’ (i.e. individually devised loopholes) are not used as a means to obfuscate the amounts of pollution each country is contributing to the atmosphere. The need for this common, complete, accurate and transparent information was recognized in Cancun. Is the US backtracking on the Cancun agreement already? The US seemed to be the only country yesterday speaking out against a rules-based system that includes common accounting of emissions.

It’s a great thing if, as the honourable delegate from the US explained, the US intends to assess reductions based on economy-wide emissions of all sources and sinks, and that the US target refers to complete domestic reductions. As far as Annex I countries are concerned, this target would therefore have a lot of integrity, if calculating emissions were the only important issue – and if ambition counted for nought. The honorouable delegate from the US went on to say that it was important to gauge the adequacy of country reduction targets as an aggregate, which contradicts his lambasting the idea of agreeing metrics to assess the adequacy of individual reduction targets. The US appears to be the only country opposed to this notion. Should we take this as another unfortunate example of US ‘exceptionalism’?

In truth the US is not the only developed country that would rather go it alone instead of playing well with others. As we have seen in interminable KP workshops, when asked to define comparability, meaning ‘similarity or equivalency’, developed countries come out with an astonishingly self-serving arrays of metrics that serve to minimize their ambition for clean sustainable development and mean that their eventual decarbonization will be steeper and far, far more expensive than early action would have allowed. While developed countries, each and every one, are not doing all they can possibly do to reduce their reductions in the face of this global crisis, then their actions are not, in this sense, comparable.

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Anonymous's blog

The Truth About Mitigation – It’s Still Inconvenient!

Submitted by Anonymous on April 3, 2011 - 9:30pm

The bright and shiny moments in yesterday’s workshop on mitigation targets of developed countries were noticeable, albeit sparse, and mostly rhetorical. It seems to ECO, the truth is still inconvenient!

We learned that reducing emissions is good for the economy. Many countries re- affirmed the need to increase the ambition level and were very aware of the gap between current pledges and the cuts needed to stay below 2 degrees of warming, let alone the needed 1.5°C limit. And nearly everyone – except the U.S. – acknowledged the need for common accounting standards to ensure the environmental integrity of this global climate cooperation.

But, to put it simply, knowing a thing and doing a thing isn’t the same thing...

On the difficult questions CAN posed; negotiators did not have such positive answers. For example, what will their true emissions be? Assumptions on forests and other land use accounting, the use of carbon offsets and hot air carry-over are all huge potential loopholes. While there was some conversation on this subject – with the U.S. promising to count both sources and sinks in its land-based accounting approach and challenging other countries’ approaches – there was no definitive account of those true emissions. Russia, Iceland and others didn’t take up the challenge, but you know, there’s those inconvenient ‘national circumstances’ to consider. The offsets question was kicked to the MRV discussion...so stay tuned.

CAN expected that developed countries with current pledges below the 25-40% range would explain how their low pledges are consistent with their fair share of the needed global mitigation efforts. We did not get answers. We just heard a lot about ‘conditions’ that must be met before they will tell us their real target.

CAN expected developed countries whose pledges are below their current Kyoto targets, and/or below business as usual under existing domestic legislation and targets, to explain how those pledges constitute progress. To ECO’s dismay, one candidate for this question, Canada, didn’t even sit for the exam. Another, the EU, wiggled free of the challenge by explaining that member states really want to achieve their long-agreed voluntary energy efficiency targets which is needed to cut their domestic emissions overall by 25%. ECO, along with the Philippines, would like to ask how that makes the EU a climate leader.

ECO also wanted to know how their 2020 pledges will allow them to achieve near-zero emissions by 2050. Only Norway seemed to come even close to answering, but Germany did present indicative decadal targets for -80% by 2050, while the UK’s trajectory to -80% is enshrined in national law. The UK’s model is overall not a bad model for a low-emission development strategy. There was a potentially encouraging admission by Poland that it was too addicted to coal and was embracing energy efficiency. Now, if only Poland took that realisation to Brussels.

While additional details remain to be tabled, equally important work must begin to enable the leading industrialized countries of the world to ensure the environmental integrity of their emissions targets.

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Region:

Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Europe

Related Event:

Bangkok 2011

Anonymous's blog

CAN Position - Los cimientos de Cancún - Nov 2010

Submitted by Anonymous on March 2, 2011 - 1:03pm

Cimientos_de_Cancun.pdf

Tags:

Cancun

Mexico

COP16

Cancun Building Blocks

espanol

Los cimientos de Cancun

Topics:

Equity/effort-sharing

Region:

Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Organization:

Climate Action Network

Related Event:

Japan Takes 1st Place Fossil of the Day for KP Attack, U.S. Scores 2nd and 3rd

Submitted by MBrockley on January 19, 2011 - 9:20am

Fossil_of_the_Day_-_Cancun_-_Dec_08_2010.pdf

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Organization:

Climate Action Network

Kyoto

UNFCCC

Related Event:

COP16/CMP6 - Cancún

Japan Takes 1st Place Fossil of the Day for KP Attack, U.S. Scores 2nd and 3rd

Submitted by MBrockley on January 19, 2011 - 8:47am

8 December 2010

Cancun, Mexico – Japan earned a 1st place Fossil for its continued efforts to kill the
Kyoto Protocol by preventing a second commitment period from moving forward.
The United States, fresh off its first, and 1st place, Fossil in Cancun yesterday, earned
its first 2nd and 3rd place Fossils for slowing technology transfer and developing
country adaptation support.

The Fossils as presented read:
"The United States wins the 3rd place Fossil. Congratulations US - Technology
transfer has been a core commitment since the beginning of the Convention, and
we’ve already wasted too much time discussing how to do it. A workable proposal is
finally on the table and everyone else is willing to go with it and establish the new
technology mechanism here in Cancun. But yesterday, you made it clear that in your
view, the Parties should only ‘consider’ establishing it.

That’s strange, given that the Copenhagen Accord clearly states that leaders agreed to
‘establish a Technology Mechanism’, ‘operational immediately’. We are surprised
you are going back behind what heads of state already agreed to and try to renegotiate
a deal struck a deal struck among world leaders. For the last year, most parties in the
technology negotiations have been working hard to answer the remaining questions
and a lot of progress was made in Cancun. While everyone else is being flexible, your
obstructionism is blocking any progress.

The US championed the need for a technology center and network and you are
developing some regional center pilots, so why the heartburn on the proposal on the
table? Concerns by US clean tech companies about being under a burdensome and
bureaucratic UN body are misinformed; what our warming world needs is precisely
what a multilateral mechanism can deliver: coordinated planning and implementation
to speed-up and scale-up the what poor countries and communities need to transition
quickly to a low-emissions future."

"The USA wins the 2nd place Fossil for delaying agreement on the establishment of
an Adaptation Committee, which is demanded by developing countries to improve
coherence and coordination of adaptation under the Convention. The US continues to
insist on clarification of the functions and asked in Cancun whether this could not be
dealt with under SBSTA, an approach which they had rejected some years ago when
it was on the SBSTA agenda. The Convention process requires a dedicated
institutional arrangement on adaptation which can initiate further action, not limited to
technical advice. This function cannot be fulfilled by existing institutions outside the
Convention."

"The 1st place Fossil goes to Japan. Although the Minister arrived on Sunday, Japan
has not yet changed its position of rejecting to put its target for the second
commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which virtually kills the future of the
Kyoto Protocol. Despite the plea from all around the world, even in the midst of the
isolation (with hidden allies consisting of Russia and Canada), Japan's inflexibility
endangers the whole discussion of the future framework at CANCUN, which the earth
desperately needs."

_______________________________________
About CAN: The Climate Action Network is a worldwide network of roughly 500
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to promote government and
individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable
levels. www.climatenetwork.org

About the fossils: The Fossil of the Day awards were first presented at the climate
talks in 1999 in Bonn, initiated by the German NGO Forum. During United Nations
climate change negotiations (www.unfccc.int), members of the Climate Action
Network (CAN), vote for countries judged to have done their 'best' to block progress
in the negotiations in the last days of talks.

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Topics:

Region:

Organization:

Climate Action Network

Kyoto

UNFCCC

Related Event:

COP16/CMP6 - Cancún

Related Member Organization:

US Climate Action Network

Kiko Network

Climate Talks Briefing Update - Webcast from Cancún

Submitted by Anonymous on December 10, 2010 - 7:25pm

Evaluating the endgame roles played by key countries

Spotlighting the United States and Japan

[Cancún, Mexico] An on-demand U.N. webcast is now available streaming a media briefing hosted Friday, December 7, by CAN International to assess progress in the UNFCCC climate negotiations underway in Cancún, Mexico.

NGO experts on the panel include Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Raman Mehta of CAN South Asia; and Masako Konishi, WWF Japan.

What: On-demand briefing by webcast on the Cancún climate talks

Webcast Address: http://webcast.cc2010.mx/webmedia_en.html?id=297
(www.unfccc.int)

Original webcast date: 2:30 PM local (20:30 GMT), Friday, December 10, 2010

Who: NGO experts on UNFCCC negotiations

Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 550 non-governmental organizations working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. For more information go to: www.climatenetwork.org <http://www.climatenetwork.org/> .

For more information contact:

Hunter Cutting: +52(1) 998-108-1313 (local)

###

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Region:

Organization:

Related Event:

CAN International NEWS

Submitted by Anonymous on December 9, 2010 - 6:39pm

December 9, 2010

World NGO Leaders call on Ministers to deliver climate agreement
Heads of WWF, Greenpeace, Oxfam, and CAN call out blocking countries

[On demand webcast available]

[Cancún, Mexico] The leaders of four international environment and
development organizations here at the climate talks in Cancún urged
Ministers to produce a strong and meaningful climate agreement and called
out individual countries for blocking progress in the climate talks under
way here.

An on-demand webcast of the panl is available now at:
http://webcast.cc2010.mx/webmedia_en.html?id=247

Leaders participating on the panel included:

Yolanda Kakabadse, President, WWF International;

Governments should stop blaming each other and have the courage and the
vision to be remembered by the people of the world. This is not a winners
and losers option, we must all win

Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International;

³With just two days left in the Cancun talks, we are in a position to move
forward on a number of significant issues. Now it¹s time for the negotiators
to stop blocking and get to work negotiating. We need some practical
progress to build trust, confidence and momentum that will deliver concrete
results here in Cancun for poor people around the world. If they do this,
ministers can final lay to rest the ghosts of Copenhagen once and for all
and move us forward in the fight against climate change.²

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International;

"Minsters here in Cancun can make history this week, they can set in motion
a sequence of events that will build hope for the future, mark a transition
to a fair and just world in which the environment and equity go hand in
hand, they can build the trust needed to deliver a climate saving treaty in
Durban."

David Turnbull, Executive Director, CAN International.

When Obama came into office I was as optimistic as any that we would see a
sea change in these talks. Unfortunately it appears the President and his
administration are paying too much attention to the climate-denying Senators
in Washington DC rather than living up to the goals they have set forward in
public time and time again. They are blocking progress on increased
transparency in their own reporting, while demanding more from China and
India on that same issue.²

On-demand Webcast: http://webcast.cc2010.mx/webmedia_en.html?id=247
(www.unfccc.int)

Where: UNFCCC Press Conference Room Luna, Moon Palace, Cancún

Original webcast: 11:30 AM local (17:30 GMT), Thursday, December 9, 2010

Who: World NGO Leaders on Cancún climate talks

Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 550
non-governmental organizations working to promote government and individual
action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable
levels. For more information go to: www.climatenetwork.org
<http://www.climatenetwork.org/> .

For more information contact:

Hunter Cutting: +52(1) 998-108-1313
###

Tags:

Topics:

Region:

Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Organization:

Climate Action Network

Kyoto

UNFCCC

Related Event:

COP16/CMP6 - Cancún

Related Member Organization:

Greenpeace USA

Oxfam International

WWF - Switzerland

World NGO Leaders call on Ministers to deliver climate agreement

Submitted by dturnbull on December 9, 2010 - 5:28pm

NEWS

December 9, 2010

World NGO Leaders call on Ministers to deliver climate agreement

Heads of WWF, Greenpeace, Oxfam, and CAN call out blocking countries

[On demand webcast available]

[Cancún, Mexico] The leaders of four international environment and development organizations here at the climate talks in Cancún urged Ministers to produce a strong and meaningful climate agreement and called out individual countries for blocking progress in the climate talks under way here.

An on-demand webcast of the panel is available now at:

http://webcast.cc2010.mx/webmedia_en.html?id=247

Leaders participating on the panel included:

• Yolanda Kakabadse, President, WWF International;

"Governments should stop blaming each other and have the courage and the vision to be remembered by the people of the world. This is not a winners and losers option, we must all win

• Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International;

“With just two days left in the Cancun talks, we are in a position to move forward on a number of significant issues. Now it’s time for the negotiators to stop blocking and get to work negotiating. We need some practical progress to build trust, confidence and momentum that will deliver concrete results here in Cancun for poor people around the world. If they do this, ministers can final lay to rest the ghosts of Copenhagen once and for all and move us forward in the fight against climate change.”

• Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International;

"Ministers here in Cancun can make history this week, they can set in motion a sequence of events that will build hope for the future, mark a transition to a fair and just world in which the environment and equity go hand in hand, they can build the trust needed to deliver a climate saving treaty in Durban."

• David Turnbull, Executive Director, CAN International.

"When Obama came into office I was as optimistic as any that we would see a sea change in these talks. Unfortunately it appears the President and his administration are paying too much attention to the climate-denying Senators in Washington DC rather than living up to the goals they have set forward in public time and time again. They are blocking progress on increased transparency in their own reporting, while demanding more from China and India on that same issue.”

On-demand Webcast: http://webcast.cc2010.mx/webmedia_en.html?id=247

(www.unfccc.int)

Where: UNFCCC Press Conference Room Luna,Moon Palace, Cancún

Original webcast: 11:30 AM local (17:30 GMT), Thursday, December 9, 2010

Who: World NGO leaders on Cancún climate talks

Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 550 non-governmental organizations working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. For more information go to: www.climatenetwork.org.

For more information contact:

Hunter Cutting: +52(1) 998-108-1313

###

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