07 Dec 2009

COP 15 Daily Summary

Monday marked the start of two weeks of meetings, high level discussions and side events as over fifteen thousand delegates, NGOs, observer organizations, and the press descend upon the Bella Centre in Copenhagen to set about sealing a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

The day kicked off with the welcoming ceremony, attended by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mr. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Mayor of Copenhagen, Ms. Ritt Bjerregård, and Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri. Following a moving video entitled “Please Help the World” provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (see below), the Prime Minister of Denmark made his opening statements, claiming, “A deal is within our reach.”

Following the welcoming ceremony, the Conference of Parties (COP) and Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) held their opening sessions. The afternoon welcomed the opening sessions of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) and Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP). And, throughout the day contained meetings by observer organizations, press briefings, and closed meetings by groups other than the Convention and Protocol bodies.

REDD

The outlook on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is decidedly hazy going into COP15. While significant process on overcoming technical barriers has been made since the inclusion of RED (as it was initially conceived of) in the Bali Road Map, the diminished expectations of a binding agreement in Copenhagen have lessened hopes that a REDD mechanism will materialize in the immediate future.

Still, REDD+ remains a critical issue in negotiations, as evidenced by its prominence in the official UNFCCC agenda and the abundance of side events devoted to REDD+ design and implementation. The emergence of programs such as the UN-REDD Programme and the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility also underscore the level of commitment towards including forest carbon in a global climate deal, and highlight the need for UNFCCC coordination and oversight. Over the course of the next two weeks, Climatico will be reporting on the positions of nations and negotiating blocs on REDD+, and the outcomes reached on this important topic.

FINANCE

Leveraging enough funding to address adaptation and mitigation needs of developing countries has been again highlighted by the UNFCCC Secretary Yvo de Boer as being one of the fundamental and necessary outcomes of Copenhagen.

The main highlight of the day was without doubt the unexpected speech of Mr. Borloo, France’s Ecology Minister, during the AWG LCA. Minister Borloo praised for the full implementation of the Bali Action Plan and ambitious GHG emissions reduction targets, i.e. 25 to 40% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. In addition, he stressed that France supported the scaling up of the EU pledge from 20 to 30% as soon as an international agreement is reached in Copenhagen.

In line with his recent calls for greater attention for climate justice and the issue of refugees, Mr. Borloo pinpointed that adaptation should be at the core of the agreement. He expressed doubts about the carbon market’s potential to levy enough funding to address these issues and called for the creation of a ‘climate justice fund’, which would raise money additional to the ODA, coming from a tax on financial transactions.

This proposal is not very consistent with the current EU position, which praises for the use of existing financial channels and insists on the need for a balanced sourcing from both public and private subsidies. This French coup d’éclat is certainly not helping the EU delivering a clear and strong message on climate finance.

ADAPTATION:

On the first day of the Copenhagen Conference the representatives of the parties to the UNFCCC did not address the issue of adaptation in details. While all the participants of the AWG-LCA meeting agreed on the importance of adaptation and the need to scale-up the financial assistance to the developing countries, there was no mentioning of concrete financial commitments by the developed countries. The determination and availability of the start-up funding for the most urgent adaptation needs is one of the most important issues to be resolved at the COP15.

The relationship between different negotiating blocs remained similar to the previous meetings of the AWG-LCA. The developing countries showed support for the positions of the G77 + China and LDC urging other parties to negotiate for a legally binding agreement that follows the Bali Action Plan. It should provide the developing countries with both short- and long-term financial assistance for adaptation, technology transfer, capacity building and mitigation. They strongly rejected the attempts of the developed countries to shift the responsibility for climate change on the developing countries. On the other hand, the developed countries were more inclined towards a political agreement that recognized the need of the developing countries for financial assistance for adaptation. However, they agreed to provide their fair share of funds, without committing to any exact amount.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, IN FOCUS:

Developed countries should come up with more ambitious emissions reduction targets than they have already promised. They should also deliver substantial financing of developing countries in order to enable them to pursue the dual goals of both reductions of emissions and economic development, a leading negotiator of Group of 77 said on Sunday, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

About the EU’s promise to reduce emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels in 2020 – rising to 30 percent if other nations follow with ambitious targets – the President of the G-77, Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, said:

“It’s a serious mistake and lack of responsibility from the European countries to commit to such a low degree of reductions…It’s their obligation to rise up to the challenge of serious reduction of emissions because science has already spoken that the world cannot afford inaction,” he said and continued:

“I do believe that they [the European countries] should move away from considering their national economic interests at the cost of humanity.”

Di-Aping added that the US commitment to cut emissions by 17 percent in 2020 from 2005 levels is also not enough. To say that the United States “is taking any aggressive actions is not really true”, Di-Aping said.

In contrast, developing countries have been taking aggressive actions, Di-Aping said, citing China, Brazil, South Africa and India as examples.

The Group of 77 is negotiating on behalf of 130 developing countries in Copenhagen. According to observers of the negotiations, the central challenge of the UN climate conference is bridging the gulf of different expectations between developed and developing countries.

Other Daily Updates

Slideshow

Video Highlights

“Please Help the World”, film from the opening ceremony of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15) in Copenhagen provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.