Preparation for UN climate summit (COP22) heating up

Preparation for UN climate summit (COP22) heating up.

A Q&A to help Ministers before 18 October ‘pre-COP’ meeting
For Pacific Guardians | by Lealaiauloto Aigaletaule’ale’a F. Tauafiafi
The countdown to the UN climate summit called COP22 at Morocco starting 7 November is heating up.
Part of the preparations in order to maximize the outcomes of COP22, includes ‘pre-COP meetings’ for government Ministers, intended to clarify key issues before the 7 November conference. One will take place next week, 18-19 October in Marrakech.
To bring ministers up with the play, the incoming Moroccan presidency and outgoing French presidency prepared a handy Q&A for Ministers so they come prepared to the pre-COP meeting.
Independent answers to these question have been provided by the Climate Action Network (CAN) – a worldwide network of over 700 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels.
The answers are outlined below. Some liberty has been taken to highlight areas of interest to Pacific audience. Such as the mention of Tokelau’s intent to launch its Climate Change Strategy at COP22.
MOBILISATION OF MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION
1) What to expect for the roadmap towards the US$100 billion?
Like all good financial tools and plans, the roadmap needs to have clarity and predictability. It needs to provide an accurate and detailed forward-looking account of how the US$100 billion will be mobilised in addition to the existing efforts being made.
This should include the types of instruments, sources, channels, etc. as well as public-private leverage ratios. The Climate Action Network (CAN) through its newsletter ECO, has said it dozens of times: greater clarity on financial support to mitigation and adaptation will generate confidence in developing country Parties.
It will also showcase the amount of finance flowing in the coming years by 2020 which will help developing countries integrate Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) into their planning and implementation.
Of particular note would be building on the OECD’s 2015 report on progress towards the US$100 billion goal. This means grants should be reported at face value and present net positive flows into developing countries.
2) What are Parties’ intended announcements/initiatives at the COP that would show support, action and momentum?
COP22 should assess and highlight pre-2020 ambition. That’s right, we never forget about what needs to happen now – in particular, means of implementation, the pledges made by countries within CP2 of the Kyoto Protocol, countries’ Cancun pledges, the NAMA registry, REDD+ and plenty of others.
This assessment would show support, ambition and momentum in the context of the facilitative dialogue technical track. Ideally, this would be in the form of roundtable discussions amongst experts, facilitated by the High-Level Champions with representation of technical experts from UNFCCC institutions. The discussions from the technical track should be reflected in the form of a policymaker’s summary.
[Pacific Guardians note: Tokelau is expected to launch its Climate Change Strategy called LivC at COP22]
STRENGTHENING ACTION [INCREASING AMBITION]
3) How can the facilitative dialogue on action and implementation help Parties identify options to increase ambition through the implementation of existing decisions?
Why take one track when we can take two? This year’s facilitative dialogue should follow a two-track approach: first, a technical track to take stock of progress and identify implementation gaps.
The high level track overseen by the presidency should then provide the opportunity to discuss how the recommendations from the technical track should be taken forward. It should also provide the ministers with a platform to make announcements and pledges towards greater action as well as strengthening their own commitments.
These discussions should then be reflected in a chair’s summary to be forwarded to the COP for its consideration. Said summary could be noted by the COP and its intent reflected within decisions from COP22 as well.
Overall, the two tracks make for a nice package to increase ambition.
4) How can the Global Climate Action Agenda and the work of the Champions be strengthened?
All mitigation initiatives associated with the UNFCCC should adhere to a set of strong, guiding criteria to ensure positive impact and avoid greenwashing.
Giving the UN stamp of approval to greenwashers will undermine the UNFCCC’s credibility and make the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C more difficult to achieve. The process to develop criteria should be announced at COP22, and be facilitated by the Champions.
RATIFICATION AND WHAT NEXT
October started with a real bustle of activity! This month, the Paris Agreement became one of the most swiftly ratified international treaties in history as it crossed the second of two thresholds required to enter into force, which will now occur on 4 November 2016.
Expedited action by the European Union and seven of its member states (Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia) as well as Bolivia, Canada and Nepal ensured that the global community sailed past the Agreement’s emissions threshold.
Since the Paris Agreement opened for signature on 22 April, ratification has occurred at a breakneck speed. In just 5 short months, 73 countries representing nearly 57% of global emissions have joined the Paris Agreement, signalling their intent to continue the spirit of Paris and work together to address climate change.
The Agreement further provides that the first meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement referred to as CMA1—we can never get enough acronyms—will be held in conjunction with the next COP, next month in Marrakech.
This will be significant for a number of reasons.
CMA1 will be the first meeting of the governing body, which has authority over all substantive, procedural, administrative and operational matters. The Agreement and accompanying decisions anticipate a number of core decisions—including accounting guidelines, rules to elaborate the transparency framework and modalities for the global stocktake—to be adopted at CMA1. Due to the unanticipated speed of entry into force, Parties still need time to finalise these decisions.
Therefore it is very important that CMA1 to agree a process to ensure adequate time to negotiate these important technical details and be inclusive for those countries that have not yet had the opportunity to join the Agreement.
CAN doesn’t believe that this time period should continue indefinitely though. If the closure of CMA1 is suspended during COP22, Parties should decide to have all rules developed by 2018.
[PACIFIC GUARDIANS NOTE FROM EXPLAINER: No one expected the Paris Agreement to come into force as early as it did. Until the penultimate draft of the Paris text, there were no options to allow the deal to come into force before 2020.
While the Paris Agreement set the direction for future climate action, its guiding rulebook still needs to be developed. In particular, a huge workload has been assigned to the “Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement” (APA), which was set up to prepare the deal for entry into force.
Once the Paris Agreement goes into force, discussions technically start taking place under the “Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement” (CMA). Thanks to the early entry into force, this will now take place for the first time in Marrakech in November, which is known as COP22.
The problem is that only countries that have ratified the agreement can take part in these discussions. This has left many countries concerned that they’ll be left out of important future discussions on the technical side of the Paris Agreement.
The French and Moroccan presidencies have released a document aiming to ease these worries.
One option, they say, is to immediately suspend the CMA and continue working on the rulebook in Marrakech as though the agreement hasn’t come into force — that is to say, with the inclusion of all countries, whether they have ratified or not. The World Resources Institute, a think-tank based in Washington DC, has detailed information about the options available and how they could work.]
VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE: EXTERNAL PROCESSES THAT MATTER
As we approach the yearly Pre-COP and COP feast, this time with a Moroccan flavour, here is how working in other fora can strengthen ambition and action in the UNFCCC. With ICAO, Montreal Protocol, G20, and not to mention all of the synergies with the SDGs there is so much more on the menu. In this brave new world of implementation and global action, the emphasis must not only be on the ingredients of the tajine, but also what you serve it with. ECO has 5 serving suggestions:
A handful of HFCs:
Like giving up sugar, it’s hard to go cold turkey on HFCs. However, ECO hopes for a Kigali special this October that finally kicks the HFCs habit. All that’s needed is Montreal Protocol Parties to adopt an ambitious amendment to phase-down HFCs and improve energy efficiency. The most scientific chefs estimate a phase down of these potent greenhouse gases could avoid more than 100 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2050 which is equal to about 0.5ºC of warming.
An ounce of Aviation:
At its recently concluded 39th Assembly in Montreal, the International Civil Aviation Organisation has reached the world’s first agreement to limit emissions from international aviation—a deal that will be voluntary until 2027. While it does include a treat or two, it also contains several less appetising ingredients. ECO salutes the inclusion of language on double counting of UNFCCC credits, but laments the missing language on environmental integrity and the deletion of some language on a long-term temperature goal in line with the Paris Agreement. Without concerted action, aviation emissions could make up over 20% of global emissions by 2050. Yet 2020 was supposed to be the year where the aviation sector began carbon-neutral growth. Governments need to sign up to the deal from its outset in 2021, not 2027. ICAO’s agreement is a start, but without stronger leadership and action in this sector, the achievement of the Paris goals will be in peril.
A sprinkle of Shipping:
Often overlooked, this important ingredient (predicted to account for 17% of global emissions by 2050 under BAU) can turn a mediocre dish into climate haute cuisine. At the end of October, countries will meet in London at the International Maritime Organisation to discuss whether the vital ingredients will be added or not. For a five-star meal, countries need to commit to defining the shipping sector’s ‘fair share’ contribution to mitigating climate change. Shipping Ministers, the more you delay, the larger this fair share will become!
A dollop of G20:
Accounting for approximately 81% of global greenhouse gas emissions, G20 countries add a lot of spice to the dish. While the Chinese Presidency of the recent G20 Summit placed climate change firmly on the agenda, the communiqué lacked any oomph in terms of concrete outcomes. Now is the time for a timeline of when G20 countries will finally get rid of those tasteless, unhealthy fossil fuel subsidies, a commitment to develop long-term strategies, and more robust climate language on infrastructure and finance. ECO hopes that G20 countries will take domestic action to ensure that the momentum and spirit of Paris continues and is mainstreamed into the global agenda. The baton is passed onto Germany as it takes up the 2017 G20 Presidency, so let’s hope that when it comes to climate change, Germany and its G20 sous-chefs cook up a feast to be proud of.
Finally, stir in some SDGs:
Several national policies are likely to contribute to the goals of Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement. Developing long-term strategies for sustainable development and decarbonisation will allow countries to fully enhance all flavours of the dish by strengthening synergies between climate and development policymaking, making successful outcomes in both processes more likely.
While progress within the UNFCCC process is the essential basis of our efforts to fight climate change, our focus should not be so narrow that we ignore what is going on around us. Rigorous efforts for streamlining and coherence in important outside processes will be crucial to ensure that our climate deal succeeds.
WHERE IS THE VOICE OF PACIFIC SMALL ISLAND STATES?
PACIFIC GUARDIANS NOTE: War on climate change: Is the Pacific ready when the world’s plan of attack is put together in Morocco next month? – still waiting on a promised response from the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP) …

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