CAN Intervention: ADP Closing Plenary SB40s, not delivered, 15 June, 2014
This written intervention is submitted by the Climate Action Network to the final plenary of ADP2.5.
This session began on a high note with positive signals coming out of two major emitters. During the session, we heard over 60 countries expressed support for the idea of a phase out of greenhouse gas emissions. These are encouraging developments, however, as the now inevitable ultimate collapse of sections of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet remind us, all countries need to be going further, faster. We expect – and we need – more positive signals and firm new commitments coming out of September’s Ban Ki-Moon Summit, COP20, and through to the March 2015 deadline for post-2020 contributions.
In Lima, Parties will need to agree on the upfront information required for their post-2020 contributions as well as the process by which those contributions should be assessed. We are concerned that some Parties do not think such an assessment is necessary. CAN believes warming should be limited to 1.5°C. The commitments made in Paris must be consistent with such a temperature goal. We will conduct a civil society review to ensure that proposed contributions – both mitigation and financial – are adequate and equitable. At a minimum, an official space within the ADP should be created for civil society and research organisation to present the outcomes of their assessments in June 2015; in addition to the question and answer sessions we expect Parties to hold regarding their contributions. Parties will also need to agree on a deadline for resubmitting contributions prior to COP21 should these prove inadequate.
To enable such an assessment, proposed contributions must be quantifiable, comprehensible, comparable and reproducible and this should be reflected in upfront information requirements. For developed countries, there must be no backsliding from the Kyoto approach with multi-year carbon budgets based on common metrics. This type of commitment should be expanded to a broader group of countries, including all in the OECD. Finance is also a core element of the upfront information requirements. It is an integral part of fair share for developed countries and, in the post-2020 context, for those with comparable levels of responsibility and capability. The upfront information requirements should also include an agreed list of equity indicators which Parties should use to explain why their proposed contributions represent an ambitious and adequate contribution to the global climate challenge. To avoid locking in low levels of ambition, all contributions must have a common end date of 2025, while Parties should also indicate their emissions pathways over the longer term in 2030, 2040 and an ultimate phase out of fossil fuel emissions in 2050.
In Paris, Parties have to commit to phasing out fossil fuel emissions and phasing in a 100% renewable energy future for all by mid-century. In order to achieve these goals, we need to act now. Lima must capture progress under workstream two and Parties must agree to concrete measures to reduce emissions. The technical expert meetings should continue beyond 2014 until we have closed the gap.
We look forward to a productive session in October. Much remains to be done to ensure ambitious outcomes in Lima, Paris and beyond.
Thank you Co-Chairs.