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Grab’n Go – Brazil’s Massive Scheme To Legalize Land-Grabbing and Raise Emissions
10 Dec 2019
Kill, invade, cut, burn it down. Repeat. The sad fate of Brazilian forests at the hands of gangs of land-grabbers have just gotten another hit from President Jair Bolsonaro, who never tires of inventing schemes to replace the forest with pasture and soybean plantations. Today, as ministers gather in Madrid to make the decisions that […]
Presidency’s Text Proposals – the Good, the Bad, and the Missing.
10 Dec 2019
The COP Presidency’s text for the principal decisions from COP25 is now into its second iteration, and the contours and fault lines are becoming clearer. The text must clearly and unambiguously convey the collective will from all Parties to raise ambition on confronting the climate emergency, including through the communication over the coming months of […]
Time for Countries to Step Up and Follow the Leadership of the CVF to Protect Rights
10 Dec 2019
From the Maldives to Costa Rica, Senegal to the Marshall Islands, communities and Indigenous peoples of countries that are members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) live on the front lines of climate impacts. More so than any other governments, members of the CVF are very much aware of the unprecedented threat that inaction on […]
The Facts on the Ground for L&D Finance
10 Dec 2019
ECO keeps hearing about “finance that’s available for loss and damage” under the Sendai framework via disaster risk reduction (DRR), humanitarian assistance, and the SDGs. ECO calls bollocks on this idea. The amount of finance available for loss and damage is COMPLETELY INADEQUATE when compared to the scale of loss and damage being suffered. According […]
ECO is CROSS and PUZZLED: Where’s the ambition on phasing out fossil fuels?
10 Dec 2019
When Energy Ministers meet today, ECO hopes to hear real talk about ambitious plans to phase out fossil fuels and accelerate the transition to a socially just, renewable energy economy. Because we need to get moving on that now to limit warming to 1.5 degrees €“ and that’s a matter of life and death for […]
It’s Not That There is No Money, Stupid!
9 Dec 2019
ECO has heard that finance ministers generally like talking about numbers and money. That is great, because the lack of money is something which hinders the necessary transformation in many countries. Greater financial support from rich countries can help shift political will towards more climate action in developing countries. So here is some inspiration for […]
The Wrong Direction on Article 6
9 Dec 2019
After many hours of waiting on Saturday, ECO was dismayed when it searched the new texts for human rights, safeguards, and clarity on an ITMO definition and found that nothing was there. Sure, there are fewer brackets, but fewer brackets do not magically translate to successful rules that ensure carbon markets won’t lead to harming […]
At Least Parties Admit It’s a “Very Negative Signal”
9 Dec 2019
It’s really a pretty straightforward question: What should the time frame of NDCs be? ECO is dumbfounded at the approach Parties have taken to the negotiations on this issue during the COP. After failing to reach agreement on draft conclusions and how to capture the progress from this session in their supposed final session on […]
Biodiversity and Just Transition
9 Dec 2019
ECO is in shock after discovering yesterday that biodiversity and just transition are missing from the elements for decision 1/CP.25!
Dear Ministers, We Need to Talk!
9 Dec 2019
Dear Ministers, we need to talk! And frankly, before we do so, you need to learn to listen. 500,000 people were out on the streets of Madrid, marching for an outcome from this COP25 that adequately responds to the climate emergency. When you arrive here, you do so after a year that witnessed the rise […]