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Multilaterals: ECOstential Questions
4 Jun 2015
Many copies of ECO spend long lonely nights in the conference hall pondering fundamental questions like: “Why am I the one that did not get picked up?”, “Am I worth my carbon footprint?” and “Where do good copies of ECO go when they are tossed in the bin?”. We wonder if Parties also ponder important questions. The Multilateral Assessments […]
Germany’s dirty little secrets
4 Jun 2015
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to make climate protection a top issue for the G7 Summit she is hosting this coming Sunday and Monday. With preparations at Schloss Elmau under way, ECO is growing ever more concerned about Germany’s coal power plants. Coal still accounts for 44% of Germany’s electricity supply, and CO2 emissions rose […]
Empty chairs and empty nights
4 Jun 2015
Establishing the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (WIM) was a major achievement of vulnerable developing countries. Last year in Lima, COP20 approved the WIM’s work plan for 2015-2016, which is crucial to progress, in addressing loss and damage from climate impacts. Unfortunately, that progress has stalled. The mechanism has not been allowed to […]
Guess who’s coming to dinner?
3 Jun 2015
When you go out with friends for dinner, do you pay the full bill or do you just put a few coins on the table and run off? In Paris, we’ll see how negotiators answer this question. The way it looks now, ECO wouldn’t want to own a restaurant in Paris. Just yesterday, the SED […]
The TEMPpting world of renewable energy supply
3 Jun 2015
ECO ♥ <3s Workstream 2 and has been looking forward to the next TEM since the last one when Parties united behind the slogan “more, faster, now!” Today, it’s finally time to gather some of our brightest minds to talk about renewable energy supply: how to unlock potential and leverage scalable, replicable and transformative support […]
Developed Countries: Take the lead on closing the gap
3 Jun 2015
While ECO enjoys the TEMs, let’s not forget that the technical examination process is only one part of Workstream 2 and the crucial work of raising pre-2020 mitigation ambition. Developed countries, you have a particular responsibility for closing the gap. After all, the convention clearly asks you to “take the lead”. Here is how you […]
Know Your Limits
3 Jun 2015
Yesterday saw a special event on the results of the Structured Expert Dialogue (SED) on the 2013-2015 review, which ended its work this February. ECO hears that it might have been this week’s “best show in town”. The SED found that the “guardrail” concept, where up to 2°C of warming is considered safe, is inadequate. […]
Food for Thought – Hunger for Action
3 Jun 2015
ECO is pleased that there’s going to be a workshop on the vulnerability of agricultural systems to different climate change scenarios. Climate change poses a serious threat to the food security of millions, and agriculture is important across the globe: food unites us all. Agriculture is particularly important in developing countries, with approximately 70% of […]
Japan draft INDC misses the target
3 Jun 2015
ECO is immensely disappointed Japan’s draft INDC yesterday. Japan is only planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2030 compared to 2013 levels. This is just an 18% reduction compared to 1990 levels. It is unacceptable to disguise this weak target by changing the base year from 1990 to 2013, and ignore mitigation […]
The mysterious case of the missing biomass emissions
3 Jun 2015
SB42 has recently seen the presentation of new LULUCF rules analysis in a forthcoming report on global impacts of biomass. It unfortunately reveals that large quantities of emissions are going missing under the existing accounting system. Several flaws in the current rules have resulted in instances where no country accounts for the emissions generated by […]