Blog
Search blog
12 Years Left
8 Dec 2018
It seems that some information on clarity, transparency, and understanding of NDCs is playing hide-and-seek. What happened to additional information on mitigation targets under paragraph H in the last iteration? Shouldn’t these targets be clear, transparent and understandable too? ECO is witnessing a scraping of integrity from text on mitigation €“ which now is completely […]
Can’t Burn Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis
8 Dec 2018
Everyone knows that CO2 emissions from burning coal are a massive contributor to climate change. Yet there’s confusion about burning wood. In fact, generating a unit of energy from wood emits more CO2 upfront than generating it from coal! “Even if forests are allowed to regrow, using wood deliberately harvested for burning will increase carbon […]
Indigenous People’s Day Ends With a Win!
8 Dec 2018
After a successful decision at COP23 concerning the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP), negotiations on the LCIPP have been stalled on multiple fronts since the negotiations first started in May at Bonn session. In Katowice, several key issues arose during this first week. Of particular concern was the largely undefined concept of “Local […]
Frontline Survivors and Climate Pilgrims Urge for Climate Ambition
8 Dec 2018
Climate change is a matter of science and facts, not beliefs or opinions. The science is clear and the facts linked to climate change – like typhoons and droughts – have been so devastating that both secular and faith communities take up their stand to urge political leaders for ambitious climate action. ECO highlights that […]
What is a Rulebook without Rights and Participation?
8 Dec 2018
With a flurry of new texts, ECO was hopeful that Parties had made good progress. But upon closer examination, ECO is very worried. Not content to undermine ambition alone, backsliding continues to broaden its reach to the whole rulebook. With each new APA text, ECO’s worries grow. Where are the rights? Where are non-party stakeholders? […]
Voices From the Front Lines
8 Dec 2018
In Vanuatu, we relish the good things in life. We in the Pacific Islands love the oceans and the forests of our natural environment, we are raised by our customs, and respect our traditional way of living. We see things and do things in our island fashion, the way that our ancestors, our grandparents, and […]
Fossil of the Day
8 Dec 2018
Switzerland Does anyone know what all the fuss is in Katowice? It’s the 24th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Just checking that you all know what you are actually attending. Unfortunately, when negotiations on climate finance accounting opened on Tuesday, Switzerland stated that according to their reading, the terms […]
Proxy Questions for the Multilateral Assessment Speakers’ List
7 Dec 2018
ECO is looking forward to observing the second set of facilitative sharing of views and the multilateral assessment workshops today. Since ECO can’t ask questions during these workshops, we figured we’d share our questions with you anyway. ECO is eagerly awaiting news from Germany’s coal commission, while noting the discrepancy between scientific results (SR1.5) and […]
Losing Time Over Timeframes
7 Dec 2018
Sitting in the common timeframes (CTFs) discussion yesterday, ECO is disappointed by the lack of progress and backsliding of the discussion. Noting that countries have already started to discuss the timeframes for NDCs before Paris, ECO couldn’t help but wonder – are we really going to take 5 years (or even longer) to agree on […]
A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing
7 Dec 2018
Walking around the COP, have you already met the “wolf in the sheep’s clothing”? The people who dress in green and call themselves “climate heroes”, asking everyone to sign their petition? Read the small text. They are promoting another extractive industry, which, just like coal, burns a fuel. In addition to this, it destroys the […]