Friday, May 25, 2012 - 05:12
As ECO watches the crash and burn exercise currently taking place in the Durban Platform negotiations, we thought it would be a good moment to remind Parties about the spirit that emerged during the closing plenary in Durban.
Durban was a critical turning point for the future of the climate regime. While it resulted in what negotiators called a delicate balance, it left much for the...
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 05:07
Qatar must be really courageous to host the COP this year! There are seven negotiating tracks taking place during COP18, including having to adopt an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, trying to finalizing the mandate of the LCA, and agreeing on a workplan and milestones under the ADP for short-term ambition and the global deal. The job that Qatar has to do seems impossible. And those are just...
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 05:03
ECO applauds that the negotiations on loss and damage have managed to agree on draft conclusions here in Bonn. Despite the lack of movement in issues such as finance and emissions reductions, negotiators have achieved some better understanding on the issue of loss and damage. The conclusions recognise the role of slow-onset impacts like sea-level rise and ocean acidification, and non-economic...
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 05:00
Roaming the corridors late on Thursday night, Ludwig heard rumours of agreement on the ADP agenda. Did he really hear right? After two weeks, can it really be that they've agreed on a footnote of an agenda, after being assured that the agenda is neutral and that the footnote doesn't mean anything?
Wow! Probably the most carbon-intensive footnote Ludwig has ever seen.
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 04:56
1st Place Fossil of the Day to the US and 2nd Place Fossil to Australia and New Zealand
The 1st place Fossil goes to the US for refusing to even discuss its mitigation and finance commitments under the Bali Action Plan.
In the developed country mitigation spin-off...
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 04:44
As the end of the Fast Start Finance period approaches, ECO lies awake at night thinking about what happens next. There is nothing on the table for 2013 and beyond, and a huge mid-term finance gap is looming. ECO is as worried as developing countries that developed countries have little interest in discussing a scaling-up roadmap of climate finance towards 2020, with clear milestones, and...
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 04:38
ECO just caught wind of bizarre news. Apparently, a Japanese governmental committee is considering a range of pollution reduction targets that are lower than Japan's 25% target. When negotiators are discussing an agenda item on raising ambition so intensively (and Japan actually supports that agenda item here), this looks utterly strange.
Why should the range of targets be so...
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 04:29
Watching the UNFCCC process from afar, one may well feel that the world is trying to address its carbon addiction by developing a new addiction to endless agenda fights. While many of the countries most responsible for climate change provide excuse upon excuse for woefully inadequate mitigation action, others are putting their shoulders to the wheel and getting on with saving our planet.
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Friday, May 25, 2012 - 04:24
Both developed and developing countries often complain that the EU will not answer their legitimate questions, such as "What is the EU position on carrying forward AAU surpluses?" and "As a so-called leader, why does the EU not move to at least a 30 percent domestic target, having already achieved around 17% reductions on 1990 levels?"
The answer...
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 04:18
**Errata: Yesterday's collectible indicated there was a "secret message" embedded in the series. That should have read "notsosecret message". The message is that countries should increase their ambition for Qatar. ECO regrets this confusion, but hopes that this was especially clear to Parties who reread the entire series, searching for the hidden...
