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Fast-track financing
9 Dec 2009
While there have been positive developments at the recent Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) meeting, funding needs to be allocated and delivered at this COP! The Adaptation Fund is already special: Its innovative features include priorisation of most vulnerable people, increasing developing country ownership and a funding mechanism that creates money additional to Official Development Assistance […]
“FOSSIL OF THE DAY” AWARD
9 Dec 2009
Tuesday’s awards go to: First Place – Ukraine Ukraine won first place yesterday for having the single worst carbon emissions reduction target in the world: a -20% reduction from 1990 levels, which means a 75% increase from current levels. The semi-technical term for this sort of “reduction” is hot air. It is this hot air […]
Gigatonne gap!
9 Dec 2009
Whether countries can agree to limit emissions sufficiently to allow the world to keep warming well below 2C is surely the most critical Copenhagen outcome. So it is timely to look at what is on the table so far, and to hold it up against what the science requires. Over the last few days, three […]
From Russia with love
9 Dec 2009
An intriguing article entitled “Present from Russia” appeared yesterday in the respected Russian financial newspaper, Vedemosti. It described how Russia was preparing a Christmas present for the world – the renunciation of its large surplus of assigned amount units. “This will be our ecological present to the world,” stated a source within the Russian delegation. […]
False fast start
9 Dec 2009
Never has ECO seen such enthusiasm from industrialised countries (especially the umbrellas), on the LCA plenary floor, to get out of the starting blocks and support developing countries to take climate action with ‘fast start’ finance. Such eagerness to move down the track got ECO very excited. But on closer inspection, our excitement was dashed. […]
Annex I targets trickery
9 Dec 2009
Industrialised countries have come to Copenhagen with a plan to weaken their national targets through LULUCF loopholes. They spurn the idea that they should have to account for increased emissions from forest management. Instead of accounting for increased emissions from a historical level, as is done for all other sectors, industrialised countries are saying they […]
FOSSIL OF THE DAY AWARD
9 Dec 2009
Climate Action Network (CAN) launched its highly-popular “Fossil of the Day” awards ceremony yesterday on the opening day of the climate negotiations. The awards are given to the country or countries doing the most to obstruct progress in the global climate talks. First Place – Industrialised Countries Industrialised countries (“Annex I” countries, in climate-ese) won […]
Something really WAS rotten in Denmark
9 Dec 2009
In recent days, rumours have been flying and clouding the negotiations, but now it’s out in the open: the infamous “Danish text” has seen the light of day. For long we have been told that there is no such thing as a Danish text, but ECO now understands, as does the world, that there was […]
CDM reform on governance
9 Dec 2009
Reform of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) will focus on crucial amendments such as regional distribution, efficiency of the operation and inclusion of forests in exhaustion, and carbon, capture and storage (CCS) as CDM project activities. While every one of these topics deserves to be addressed here, ECO will only review the amendments related to […]