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Australia moving backwards with a Fossil
11 Jun 2014
Australia is the lucky recipient of the first Fossil of the Day award here in Bonn in recognition of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's stupendously brazen denial of the catastrophic risks posed by climate change. And to commend him in his recent efforts to form a gang of of "like minded" countries opposed to climate change […]
Cities doing it for themselves
11 Jun 2014
ECO was excited by yesterday’s Cities forum where great ideas, such as a plan to phase out of emissions by 2055 from the global building sector, were discussed. Amazing! A number of cities also have plans to go carbon neutral by 2030. Incredible! With this level of ambition, it’s no wonder Parties want to include […]
Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey: ADP mid-session stocktake
11 Jun 2014
With one week to go in the June 2014 session, it’s time to see where we stand on some of the key issues. Here is ECO’s take. Adaptation There was rich discussion on how adaptation should be addressed in the Paris agreement, but no sense on what that a goal would look like or how […]
Refreshing winds of change from Mexico
10 Jun 2014
Ministers failed to deliver climate action on Thursday and Friday, and the planet treated us to stifling heat yesterday in Bonn. Fortunately, a cooling breeze from Mexico has reached ECO to remind us that the warming can be stopped and that the heat in Bonn (and in the UNFCCC negotiations) can be reversed. This breeze […]
Australia’s “new” 18.8% reductions target: how to succeed without really trying
10 Jun 2014
Everyone, please give the Australian delegation a big hug – they just tripled their emissions reduction target! And they didn’t even know it. Thanks to the Clean Energy Act (2011) that is still law, and the wonderful impact of the carbon price over the past year, Australia’s total emissions default target has just kicked into auto-pilot and […]
Poland and the EU’s KP ratification
10 Jun 2014
Last week at the KP ministerial meeting, ECO again heard that commitment period two (CP2) ratifications were not advancing as we had hoped. So far, among industrialised countries, only Norway has managed to finalise the process. ECO understands that the EU environment ministers are discussing this issue at their council meeting on Thursday. But now, […]
Orphan issue in the 2015 agreement
10 Jun 2014
A 2015 deal will fail in the eyes of the world public if it does not contribute to significantly scaling up adaptation action for developing countries. Join us today for CAN’s side event to learn more about the role of loss and damage, an orphan issue in the 2015 agreement. When: 13:15-14:45 Where: Room Solar
Should Carbon Majors contribute to loss and damage costs?
10 Jun 2014
Developed countries: do you often wonder how you can help vulnerable countries meet the mounting costs of climate change through loss and damage, given the fiscal challenges you’re facing at home? Vulnerable countries: do you despair that the costs of loss and damage will never be met by anyone other than those suffering the impacts? […]
Statement regarding cost recovery policy on behalf of all observer constituencies
8 Jun 2014
Even though the Secretariat and Parties keep saying that civil society plays a critical role in the negotiations, there’s very little they’re doing to help us participate effectively. The proposed cost recovery policy for side events and exhibits is a case in point. The following is the collective response on behalf of all non-governmental observer constituencies, which offers to […]
Sorry, LDCs
8 Jun 2014
ECO realised, with much dismay, that yesterday’s article “The Visionary Few” missed the important statement by Uganda’s minister on behalf of the LDCs. We are sorry for this oversight, but were excited to hear that the LDCs are taking IPCC science as seriously as environmental NGOs when talking about their long term mitigation goal where: […]