Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 8 • Number 21 • 28th November 2008
Environment Community Descends on Poznan
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Hotels are filling up in the western Polish city of Poznan as Ministers, delegates, civil society representatives and the media prepare for the year’s most anticipated conference on climate change. The 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP-14 - set to kick off on 1 December - will see as many as 8,000 government representatives and observer organisations to the UNFCCC discuss an array of issues addressing climate change.
As the penultimate annual meeting before Parties are expected to hammer out an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol - which will expire in 2012 - many observers will be looking to Poznan for indicators as to how the next 12 months of negotiations leading up to COP-15 in Copenhagen will progress.
But with developed and developing countries still split on longstanding issues (e.g., long-term goals and technology transfer), the current global financial crisis, and the political limbo in the US resulting from the transition of presidential administrations, there is little expectation that significant progress will be achieved during the two week meeting.
Nevertheless, COP-14 will be the first time that a real negotiating text for a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol will be on the table and hot button issues - most notably the transfer of climate change combating technology to developing countries - will certainly be attracting much attention.
Moreover, widespread pessimism among many observers in light of the current state of the global economy is being challenged by a recent survey commissioned by the HSBC Climate Partnership, a group composed of business and environmental groups. According to the report, 43 percent of people surveyed in select developed and developing countries place climate change ahead of the current financial meltdown as an issue of concern. The study also found that a majority of people in the developing countries surveyed - including Brazil, India, and China - were willing to make ‘lifestyle changes’ to reduce climate change.
Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that they will clinch an ‘ambitious’ climate change deal in Copenhagen that will follow on the first phase of Kyoto. Organisers say that Poznan will serve as a mid-way stop between Bali and Copenhagen - an opportunity to take stock of progress made in 2008 and map out in detail what needs to happen in 2009 to reach an agreement. Parties will table a text at the conference that could serve as the basis for an agreement at Copenhagen.
Need for a ‘shared vision’
Bridging the gap between developed and developing countries has been highlighted as a necessary priority for moving forward. Issues such as the nature of a functional technology transfer package and the request by some developed countries that more industrialised developing countries take a more participatory role than their poorer counterparts have the potential of bringing climate talks to a standstill.
To address this potential deadlock, the ‘Bali Roadmap’ - agreed to at COP-13 - requires Parties to establish a long-term ‘shared vision’ for moving climate talks forward. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to emphasise the importance of this vision when he addresses ministers and senior officials during the high-level meeting near the end of the Poznan Conference.
Technology transfer could monopolise agenda
Technology is the most high profile issue on the Poznan agenda and agreement on the issue will be key to establishing a shared vision. Parties are striving to come to an agreement on an appropriate framework for the transfer of technology from developed to developing countries to assist poorer countries in their attempts to meet climate change targets. Both developed and developing countries have agreed that this transfer will be an essential aspect of a Copenhagen deal. However, reaching a consensus on the details of the plan has been formidable.
Key discussions related to technology will take place early in the conference when the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) - which counsels the Conference of the Parties on matters of climate, the environment, technology, and method - and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) - which helps review how the Convention is being applied - meet at the beginning of the two weeks. Informal consultations of groups formed on SBSTA and SBI topics will then continue until the two bodies close on 10 December.
The Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) - a subsidiary body under the UNFCCC charged with facilitating cooperation on matters such as establishing a framework for technology transfer - will hold several workshops on key negotiating issues, such as a “shared vision for cooperative action” and “ranges of emission reduction objectives” throughout the first week of the Conference.
In addition, several side events, organised by governments and civil society organisations, will discuss various aspects of striking a deal on technology. Organisations such as the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) will be hosting events covering the general principles and procedures related to technology transfer, while others, including the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) will focus in on financing - a key stumbling block in negotiations.
Issues related to trade and technology transfer will be addressed during a 2 December side event, hosted by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India.
Deforestation
Adopting an initiative to combat deforestation and forest degradation is of high importance to a Copenhagen deal and it will undoubtedly be discussed at Poznan. Of interest to many environmentalists will be debate surrounding the UN Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Programme, (UN-REDD).
UN-REDD, unveiled by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September of this year, has been touted as a probable component of a Copenhagen agreement (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 3 October 2008). The programme aims to allow participating tropical forested developing countries to generate carbon credits by demonstrating their capacity for tree planting and ‘avoided deforestation’.
Discussion on deforestation will kick off on 1 December at a meeting of the SBSTA, and side events hosted by governments including Ghana and New Zealand as well as non-governmental organisations, such as the Amazon Institute for Environmental Research (IPAM) and the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), also have in depth discussions and presentations on UN-REDD planned.
Critics of UN-REDD say they will be pushing Parties to address problems with the programme at Poznan. ‘REDD Myths’, a new report released on 27 November by environmental group Friends of the Earth International, says that carbon trading schemes like UN-REDD have the potential to undermine the stated objectives of the negotiations.
”During the climate talks, we will be demanding that forests are kept out of carbon markets, that plantations are entirely excluded and land rights are enforced as the basis of any forest policy,” says Joseph Zacune, Friends of the Earth International Climate and Energy Coordinator. “If governments are serious about tackling climate change, deforestation must be stopped once and for all. To do this we need to tackle the consumption of agrofuels, meat and timber products which is driving deforestation and support good governance of forest resources.”
Adaptation
Funding for projects aimed at assisting adaptation to the effects of climate change is also expected to be addressed. Organisers say the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund will likely be finalised in Poznan, with some governments likely to voluntarily provide initial funding. Agreement on the issue could clear the way for actual projects to be implemented in 2009.
Due to the timing of the religious holiday Eid, a shorter than usual high level meeting of ministers and senior officials is scheduled for 11-12 December, the final two days of the conference.
ICTSD Reporting.
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Hotels are filling up in the western Polish city of Poznan as Ministers, delegates, civil society representatives and the media prepare for the year’s most anticipated conference on climate change….. How the demand of electricity as well as the demand of heat for the hotels are met is only the world class unresolved issues for the workers operating combined heat and power (CHP) generation…..