CAN ADP 2-12 Closing Intervention, December 2015

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a written intervention at the close of ADP 2-12.

With a new draft text in hand, it now falls on ministers to bring four years of intense diplomatic efforts to a meaningful conclusion.

Paris must be a pivot point that catalyses ambition and assures an equitable outcome that places the needs of the most vulnerable at its core.

The Paris Agreement should anchor the 1.5-degree target and commit Parties to full global decarbonisation and a complete transition to renewable energy by 2050. All countries should develop decarbonisation strategies for 2050, to be submitted no later than 2020, with developing countries being provided with the MOI to develop and fulfill these plans.

Current INDCs do not put us on an adequate pathway for meeting the demands of science. To generate sustained ambition, Climate Action Network calls for the establishment of a “Paris Ambition Mechanism”: a robust ambition acceleration mechanism that synchronises, assesses, and ratchets up Parties’ commitments in 5- year cycles, including by matching conditional INDCs with finance. Its implementation must be tied to an enhanced Workstream 2 process, with the first review of INDCs taking place as early as possible, and before 2020.

Enhanced financial support will be critical to unlock the necessary global action. The Paris Agreement should stipulate that collective targets for the provision of financial support should be set and updated in 5-year cycles, with separate targets for mitigation and adaptation support. Developed countries should continue to be the primary contributors of climate finance, responsible for ensuring scaling up from the 100 billion floor after 2020. Yet, countries with comparable levels of capacity and responsibility would be in the position to complement these efforts.

Adaptation and loss and damage – in particular their distinct institutional anchoring as standalone issues in the Paris Agreement, and assurance of adequate support arrangements for both – remain defining issues for Paris. An early move on loss and damage will be crucial to inject positive momentum into the process and ensure the voices of the most vulnerable are heard.

Climate Action Network urges ministers in Paris to provide early signals on the issues outlined above in order to deliver the fair, ambitious, and transformative climate action package the world urgently requires.