Time to Rock the Boat

22 May 2012

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.

Thinking that the hot, crowded and uncomfortable room might be sucking the creative juices out of people, the chair arranged to move to the spacious and blissfully cool Saal Bonn. But when delegates arrived, they found the door locked.

An ironically fitting reboot to the decade-long search for a fair way to control the fast-growing emissions from international transport, and in the process generate billions in climate finance for the poorest and most vulnerable.

ECO is convinced that negotiators can do much better. To that end, ECO offers some suggestions in reaching agreement on giving a signal to the IMO and ICAO, the sectoral bodies that will negotiate and implement measures for shipping and aviation, respectively:

–Be prepared to compromise: developed countries need to signal they are prepared to address equity and different circumstances of developed and developing countries, while developing countries need to agree to global approaches that don’t violate the principles of the ICAO and IMO by differentiating between ships and aircraft

–Be practical: agree that differentiation must be addressed through the use of revenues to correct equity issues and impacts on developing countries, and in addition raise substantial and predictable climate finance for the Green Climate Fund

– Be ambitious: show that the LCA is capable of delivering ambitious outcomes by Doha, on both finance and mitigation

Here’s a chance to demonstrate how CBDRRC can be interpreted in global approaches in a balanced, practical way. It is no longer ahead of its time. In fact, now it can set useful and equitable precedents for the future global regime.