Media Advisory – Webcast Notice

[Doha – Qatar] – November 30, 2012 – Which countries were the most productive during the first week of the major climate talks of the year? Which were the most obstructive? As COP18 in Doha prepares for the arrival of ministers later this week, what do countries need to do to make the negotiations a success?

Civil society groups attending UN climate talks in Doha, Qatar, will host a media briefing, webcast live, MONDAY, DECEMBER 3 at 10.30am, which will answer these questions and more.

Speaking at the press briefing will be a range of international experts from NGOs organized in the Climate Action Network (CAN) - a network of more than 700 organisations from over 90 countries - including Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The briefing takes place in Press Conference Room 2 in the Qatari National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar on Monday, December 3 at 10.30am (7.30am GMT).

·      What: Stocktake on the UNFCCC climate negotiations in Doha

·      Where: Press Conference Room 2, QNCC, Doha, Qatar

·      Webcast Live at:  http://unfccc4.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop18/templ/ovw_live.php?id_kongressmain=231

·      When: 10.30am local Doha time, Monday, December 3, 2012

·      Who: NGO experts on UNFCCC negotiations

Contacts

Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 700 NGOs working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels.

For more information, please contact CAN International Communications Coordinator Ria Voorhaar, email: rvoorhaar@climatenetwork.org, local mobile: +974 33 38 6907.

Media Advisory – Webcast Notice

[Doha – Qatar] – November 28, 2012 –  International experts from NGOs organized in the Climate Action Network (CAN) - a network of more than 700 organisations from over 90 countries – will brief the media on the latest developments in the climate negotiations at Doha, Qatar, tomorrow.

On youth and future generations day at the climate talks, Reem al Mealla, from the Arab Youth Climate Movement (AYCM) will outline plans for the first climate demonstration in a Gulf state which will call for Arab leaders to make a pledge to reduce carbon emissions.

Liz Gallagher, senior policy advisor at E3G, will to provide an update on the difficult negotiations over the LCA track's chair's text as well as any breaking developments at COP18.

The briefing takes place in Press Conference Room 2 in the Qatari National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar on Thursday 29 November, at 11am local time (8am GMT). It will be webcast live.

·      What: Briefing on the UNFCCC climate negotiations in Doha.

·      Where: Press Conference Room 2, QNCC, Doha, Qatar

·      Webcast Live at: http://unfccc4.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop18/templ/ovw_live.php?id_kongressmain=231

·      When: 11am local Doha time, Thursday 29 November, 2012

·      Who: NGO experts on UNFCCC negotiations

Contacts

Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 700 NGOs working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels.

For more information, please contact CAN International Communications Coordinator Ria Voorhaar, email: rvoorhaar@climatenetwork.org, local mobile: +974 33 38 6907.

[Doha – Qatar] – November  28, 2012 – Half way through the first week of the major climate talks of the year a number of worrying fault lines  have emerged which have the potential to derail the Doha negotiations if they are not resolved, NGO experts warned. 

The Polish Government – who will today be announced as host of next year's major climate talks - is playing a unique blocking role towards further climate action in Europe which could destabilise the climate talks in Doha.

While other potential flash points have emerged around the successful closure of the LCA track and climate finance.

Anja Kollmuss, from Carbon Market Watch, said the Polish Government was trying to win respect as a climate leader by hosting the COP19 next year, but the truth was they were singlehandedly preventing the European Union from raising its emissions reduction target to 30 per cent and from finalising a long term strategy to deal with climate change.

“The President of the climate talks needs to be able negotiate deals between parties and seal deals but the Polish government has shown it is not capable of this as it has repeatedly been against the wishes of the other 26 EU member states,” she said.

But the Polish Government is also blocking progress in the negotiations in Doha by refusing to agree to the tightening of the rules around pollution permits in the second commitment period of the only legally binding climate deal we have, the Kyoto Protocol.

The Polish Government wants to use pollution permits it did not spend in the first commitment period of Kyoto because it chose a target that was already met several times over, but allowing this would make a joke of Warsaw's commitment to the treaty.

Also under a cloud is the question of whether rich countries will scale up their funding of climate action to developing countries to reach the $100 billion commitment by 2020 and to capitalise the now empty Green Climate Fund. 


Oxfam International's Tim Gore said despite economic problems facing many rich countries there were many options still available to them to fund climate action, such as a Financial Transactions Tax (due to be implemented in 12 EU countries next year) or a fair carbon change on the emissions from international aviation and shipping.

“Failure to do this by next week, could see this COP start to unravel,” Gore said.

Mohamed Adow, from Christian Aid, said at this early stage of the talks countries were already adopting unhelpful negotiation tactics around the successful closure of the longterm cooperative action (LCA) track which came out of Bali in 2007 where finance was a key issue.

The First Place Fossil is awarded to Turkey. Although Turkey is the world's fourth largest investor in coal, recording the largest relative increase in annual GHG emissions between 1990–2010 with Ankara declaring 2012 the year of coal, Turkey is asking for more funds in the climate negotiations. This is even though Ankara did not post any QUELROs for the first commitment period. To make matters even more fossilised, Turkey has already declared they wont make a pledge for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Although, they work almost invisibly during the negotiations, so as not to receive too much attention, it’s clearly their time to step onto the fossil stage! It’s your turn Turkey for a Fossil!

The second place Fossil of the Day goes to the EU for having already reached their pledged 2020 target of 20% but having so far failed to increase even though there is still almost 10 years to go. How outrageous! Is the EU really planning to go for the next 10 years without doing ANY further emissions reductions? EU you will need to quickly increase your target or the clouds will appear and it will start raining even more fossils on your negotiating table.

(1) According to the latest projections by the European Environmental Agency the EU’s domestic emissions were 17,5% below the 1990 level in 2011. Factoring in offsets surrendered into the EU ETS in 2011, we find that the EU27 has effectively beaten it’s -20% climate target for 2020 with nine years to spare!