CAN Intervention AWG-KP Opening Plenary Durban, November 29, 2011

Thank you Chair,

I am speaking on behalf of the Climate Action Network.

We call on Parties to acknowledge the urgency with which climate change needs to be addressed and to agree to ambitious and immediate emissions reduction targets that are in line with the Cancun Agreement to prevent global warming beyond two degrees Celsius. Kyoto Protocol parties must commit to a second commitment period at Durban. The legal and governance structure of the Kyoto Protocol is crucial to ensuring that mitigation commitments are legally binding and have environmental integrity.  

Loopholes represent an extreme threat to the environmental integrity and effectiveness of the post-2012 climate regime. The surplus of AAUs under the Kyoto Protocol amounts to 7.5-10 Gt CO2e, roughly one third of current 2020 emissions reduction targets pledged by Annex 1 countries. We call on Parties to fully address the issue of surplus AAUs generated during the 2008-2012 commitment period. Double counting for new market and non-market mechanisms must absolutely be avoided and accountability for LULUCF needs to be strengthened.
In LULUCF, Annex 1 countries have laid their cards on the table, proposing to hide forestry emissions and largely not account for emissions from other land uses. This undermines targets and the Kyoto Protocol. Durban is the last chance for countries, including developing countries that are committed to rules with environmental integrity, to reject the worst options on the table, and require robust rules.
Thank you, Chair.

Credit: Ingrid Næss-Holm

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Download file: http://AWG-KP_Opening_Intervention.pdf