We’ve Got A Question For You

4 December 2018

ECO congratulates all Parties who participated in the multilateral assessment and facilitative sharing of views workshops yesterday. ECO offers special congratulations to China and Jordan for participating in the process for the first time! ECO hopes that these experiences help with the transition to the review process, to be established under the Paris Agreement.

Since ECO wasn’t able to ask questions during the workshops today, we wanted to share a couple of the questions we would have asked:

For Canada, ECO has two questions: The first relates to the need for strong domestic accountability measures in addition to the multilateral assessment. Given Canada’s track record on missing targets, such accountability measures are crucial. Will Canada establish a domestic climate change committee with the mandate to track the government’s progress towards its target, and provide a mechanism for judicial review of its climate legislation? The federal carbon pricing that will apply across the country beginning in 2019 is a long-overdue start, but an incomplete one. ECO’s second question is: when can we expect a serious plan to tackle the oil and gas sector? ECO does not need to ask about mechanisms for increasing ambition, as that question was thankfully covered by Switzerland. However, ECO still wants to see the results, and expects a strengthened NDC in 2019 that is inline with the IPCC SR1.5 report.

For France: Given that France has missed its emissions reductions targets for two years, artificially set higher carbon budgets for the next five years, and postponed the reduction of nuclear power in the energy mix until 2035, which in turn will delay the deployment of renewable energies. ECO would have asked whether France considers these measures an adequate response to the IPCC 1.5°C report and as a sign of true leadership?

For China: China noted that the ICA process helped to improve transparency, and that you have learned lessons from hearing the experiences of Annex I Parties. How have these lessons specifically informed the development of China’s MRV system and how will these lessons support the continuous improvement of the system?

For Jordan: during your presentation, you noted the challenges with the availability, accuracy, and completeness of data. What role can civil society organizations, academia, research organizations, and other non-governmental actors play in supporting Jordan’s data efforts?

ECO hopes that in deciding on the modalities for the facilitative, multilateral consideration of progress, Parties will allow observers to actively participate in the process. ECO asks, because it cares about the climate and about ensuring Parties achieve their highest levels of ambition.