Post-Kyoto climate deal takes shape
EuroActiv, Wednesday 20 May 2009
Ahead of the next round of talks on a post-Kyoto climate agreement, the United Nations has released the first draft of a negotiating text stuffed with options for rich and poor countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists blame for warming the planet.
"This document marks an important point on our road," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"It's the first time that a real negotiating text will be on the table, which can serve as a basis for governments to start drafting a Copenhagen agreed outcome," he added.
Tackling outsanding issues
The 53-page text, which is meant to lay the building blocks for final agreement in Copenhagen in December, runs the gamut of outstanding issues: a shared vision for long-term cooperative action, enhanced action on adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology and capacity-building.
However, it is still difficult to decipher the outline of possible outcomes for any individual area. Much of the text is packed full of multiple options, which at times go in different directions. For example, regarding long-term emissions reduction goals, five possible readings are outlined, including stabilising the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, reducing global CO2 emissions per capita to about two tonnes and reductions based on historical responsibility.
"Within the talks, we have an almost complete list of industrialised nations' pledges to cut emissions after 2012, so governments can see now more clearly where they are in comparison to each other, and can build a higher ambition on that basis," de Boer said, referring to a text which would amend the Kyoto Protocol's emission reduction targets for developed countries (the so-called 'Annex 1' parties).
Technical aspects first
But sources close to the negotiating table told EurActiv that no agreement would be reached on emission reduction targets until the final hour, and certainly not before all the technical aspects of the deal have been sorted out.
More clarity is needed on an international cooperation mechanism to implement urgent and immediate measures to help developing countries to adapt to climate change, as well as on finding the right financial mechanism and technology-transfer system.
A registry for developing countries
The deal is certain to create a mechanism to register mitigation actions in developing countries. These actions should be country-driven, but will depend on the financial and technological support of industrialised nations, stresses the text.
Some countries recommended that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows developed nations to claim carbon-trading credits from investments in poor countries, be extended from a project-based to a sector-based approach.
One of the proposals outlined in the text is the inclusion of carbon capture and storage (CCS; see EurActiv LinksDossier) technology and nuclear power in CDM schemes.
Financing climate change: private or public?
Regarding the provision of financial resources and investment, there seems to be no consensus as to whether to rely on market mechanisms or the public sector.
One option stipulates that the public sector would be the major source of funds, with market mechanisms and other private sector sources playing a complementary role in addressing climate change.
Another proposal, however, notes that public finance shall be provided in areas that cannot be adequately financed by the private sector to leverage business investment.
"The Major Economies Forum [last April] began with a firm commitment to contribute positively to a Copenhagen agreement and, in response to the financial crisis, many national stimulus packages have been launched that include green economic objectives. With only 200 days before Copenhagen, time is getting tighter, but the world is not standing still on climate change," said the UN's de Boer.
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