Blog
Search blog
Domestic preparations for dirty oil prevention
13 Mar 2014
Domestic preparations for intended nationally determined contributions may, at first glance, seem an unpromising subject for an article. The issue couldn’t be more important, though. The contributions that countries plan to submit, ahead of Paris, and the terms by which they’ll do so, remains firmly at the forefront of ECO’s mind. We’re quite sure that […]
Close the gap: shift investments
13 Mar 2014
Once the negotiations move into a contact group, ECO can only hope that delegates will see finance as a central pillar of the 2015 package. Developed countries must show a record of year-by-year increases and projections of their continued increase towards 2020. Finance is instrumental to low global emissions and climate resilient development. A failure […]
Fair Shares — The Basics
13 Mar 2014
Everybody always talks about equity, but no one ever does anything about it. In hoping that someday Parties might, ECO would like to present this quick cheat sheet. It’s not true that “equity is in the eye of the beholder”. Sure, there’s a lot to disagree about, but the UNFCCC really does give us somewhere to stand. […]
Adaptation Committee: All Hands on Deck
12 Mar 2014
Entering its second year of work, last weeks 5th meeting of the Adaptation Committee (AC) marks a crossroad for the group. It either has to move full steam ahead providing value to the international response on adaptation or continue to get stuck in the doldrums. Far from having the winds taken out of its sails, […]
When will Australia increase its pre-2020 ambition?
12 Mar 2014
The independent review by the Australian Government’s Climate Change Authority (CCA) is clear that Australia’s current 5% target is “woefully inadequate”. Instead the CCA has recommended that Australia’s fair share would be a target of a 19% reduction of emissions below 2000 levels. So Australia – what will it be? Will you stay on ‘woefully […]
Negotiations are a Contact Sport … and Contact Sports Need Contact Groups
12 Mar 2014
We’re pacifists here at ECO, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a soft spot for a good game of competitive sport. And just like the race to a low-carbon, climate-safe future, negotiations can be a good game too – of course we expect everyone to be good sportspeople and act in good faith. […]
Putting the Stale in Stalemate
12 Mar 2014
While perusing some of the recent submissions to the ADP, ECO was overcome by an unshakable sense of déjà vu. It almost seemed as though some parties might have resubmitted some of their pre-Copenhagen submissions by mistake. China’s submission for example contained no less than 14 references to the Bali Action Plan and process. Yet […]
From Expert Meetings to Action Agendas
12 Mar 2014
Everyone has been waiting for today: the technical expert meetings will conclude with an entire session dedicated to “The Way Forward”. The last two days of presentations have demonstrated that there are many examples of successful ways to deliver clean renewable energy and the enormous potential for scaling up action. However, we haven’t even discussed […]
Transparency of Support for Technology Transfer
12 Mar 2014
ECO is a fan of transparency, and we’re encouraged by the general agreement on the need for more of it on mitigation here in Bonn. Parties need to start considering the unique needs of transparency for support– particularly to enable the transfer of environmentally sound technologies. This discussion opens the opportunity to move beyond standard […]
Is this the Japan of today or yesterday?
11 Mar 2014
Today marks the third anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear accident in eastern Japan. Our hearts are with those who suffered and are still suffering from this tragic event. ECO has no doubt that producing a new energy and climate vision is a hard ask. Yet, as we watched the Japanese government struggle with this task, […]