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A Letter to Santa
6 Nov 2009
The Christmas season has come early for developed countries who have been invited to present their Christmas wish lists for forest management at Copenhagen. It has been two years since LULUCF negotiators started debating how to account for forest management in the next commitment period, in particular what baseline to use. The result is a […]
Healthier Climate Change Talks
6 Nov 2009
Two organizations highlighted at a mid-week press conference that focusing on the health effects of climate change puts a human face on the negotiations. Josh Karliner (Health Care Without Harm) and Genon Jensen (Health and Environment Alliance) presented Dr. Roberto Bertollini of the World Health Organization with a larger than life “Prescription for a Healthy […]
To be or not to be (binding)
6 Nov 2009
So let us make sure we understand this correctly: the African Group, AOSIS, the G77, the EU, the UN and even the Umbrella Group want a legally binding instrument. So where’s the problem? It’s true the acoustics are bad in the FIRA conference center, but ECO is quite sure it heard everybody saying that they […]
A Convenient Truth
6 Nov 2009
Never waste a good crisis, runs the adage. On Wednesday, the (IIASA) presented a new report outlining Annex I mitigation costs and potentials based on the effects of the economic crisis. The report uses post-crisis GDP projections based on the IEA’s 2009 world energy outlook. Here are the headlines • In 2020 Annex I emissions […]
A Little Clarity, Please
5 Nov 2009
Now that the dust has mostly settled and Parties are back at the negotiating table in the KP track, it is a good moment to take stock and reflect on the African Group gambit earlier in the week. An important result from Wednesday’s plenary is that industrialized countries will put their emission reduction targets on […]
Linking Conditions for Human Dignity: Climate Protection and Human Rights
5 Nov 2009
When the African Group raised the stakes in the KP plenary earlier this week, its representatives explained that the action was prompted by the serious human suffering already occurring in Africa due to climate change. This was an important reminder that negotiators must preserve and strengthen human rights language in the negotiating text. Human rights […]
USA is named a ‘Fossil’ at UN climate talks
5 Nov 2009
Barcelona, Spain, November 4, 2009: At the halfway point of the UN climate talks in Barcelona this week, the USA was named as ‘Fossil of the Day’, with Canada coming in second, by a vote of the Climate Action Network International (CAN-I) – a global coalition of over 450 leading non-government organisations. The daily award […]
Dying for change?
4 Nov 2009
ECO would like an answer to this question: What would you do if your country, lands and the livelihoods of your people were going to become unliveable or disappear under water or sand or face substantial damages beyond their capacity to adapt? Adaptation negotiators entering the halls for the next informal session on adaptation ought […]
Beyond Borders: Progress on a Global Level
4 Nov 2009
Two experienced UNFCCC activists explain how to become “climate smarties” and create a fair, effective and ambitious global climate deal. Generally, when we discuss the effects that greenhouse gases have on the world’s atmosphere, we prefer the term climate change. Global warming simply isn’t an accurate description. But we do like one thing about this […]
Hatoyama Initiative: Is That All There Is?
4 Nov 2009
Is this it? Hope not. When Prime Minister Hatoyama of Japan announced his “Hatoyama Initiative” for financing developing country actions in his speech at the UN Summit in September, ECO was enthused about several of the principles laid out in his speech: “substantial, new and additional public and private financing” . . . “innovative mechanisms […]