26 October 2015, Climate Institute, Over the weekend the last round of negotiations on the Paris climate change agreements concluded. The current draft agreement and supporting decisions is available here. Beyond the drama and theatrics of the Bonn meeting, countries left with draft agreements that can form the basis of a credible outcome in Paris. Embedded in the draft are the core elements of an outcome in Paris that reinforce the signal to business that the era of unabated fossil fuel use is at an end. However, progress on the substance of the agreements was mixed and clear political direction from ministers to officials is needed to pick up the pace in the final sprint to Paris. Brinkmanship and negotiation tactics will not deliver in Paris, but political leadership can. This highlights the importance of upcoming political meetings between leaders at the G20, APEC and CHOGM, and the pre-COP ministerial meeting in early November. On the specifics of the current draft, against The Climate Institute’s benchmarks for success in Paris: Read More here
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26 October 2015, Yale Connection. The New Climate Economy. A global study finds that climate action and economic growth can go hand in hand. ll the costs of limiting climate change harm or help the economy? One group analyzed research from around the world to assess if we can have prosperity and a healthy planet. MOUNTFORD: “The main finding is very clear. It’s come out that across all of this analysis – different countries – we can get growth and climate action together.” That’s Helen Mountford, Program Director for “The New Climate Economy” – a project of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate – a collaboration between researchers, nonprofits, and political and business leaders. As part of the project, the commission developed ten recommendations for how to stimulate the economy while reducing emissions enough within the next 15 years to prevent catastrophic climate change. The plan calls for investing at least a trillion dollars a year in renewable energy, putting a price on carbon, and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. MOUNTFORD: “The action plan emphasizes the importance of halting deforestation by 2030, and starting to restore some of the degraded lands worldwide.” Other recommendations include investing in energy-efficient buildings, waste management systems, and public transportation to make cities more resilient. They’re all strategies to achieve economic prosperity while protecting the climate. Read More here
25 October 2015, Carbon Pulse, Swollen UN climate text ups workload for Paris summit. UN-led negotiations took a step backwards during this week’s UN climate talks in Bonn as draft text for a global pact grew longer during the penultimate formal session before the crunch December Paris summit. The UNFCCC secretariat on Friday published the new text, with the main agreement portion swelling to a heavily-bracketed 34 pages, primarily to reflect complaints from developing nations that the previous nine-page version had ignored many of their proposals. Calls to reduce aviation and shipping emissions have been included, and there are more provisions to underpin carbon markets and international trade, the absence of which had concerned some market proponents. Read More here
22 October 2015, Carbon Brief, Five charts that show how Arctic and Antarctic sea ice is faring in 2015. At this time of year, there are big differences in what’s going on with sea ice at either end of the world. September saw the Arctic hit its fourth lowest summer minimum on record, while over in Antarctica, the winter maximum finished just above average, ending a streak of record highs in the last three years. Carbon Brief takes a look at what’s happened this year and how it fits in with long term trends. Summer minimum Scientists have been using satellites to measure sea ice extent at the north and south poles since the late 1970s. They take measurements daily, and record the annual minimum and maximum as an indicator of how the poles are changing. In the Arctic, the end of the summer marks the point when sea ice is at its smallest extent, before it freezes up again as temperatures fall. Scientists keep a close eye around the time the low is normally reached – usually mid september – then look for signs of ice accumulating again in order to pinpoint exactly when the summer minimum is reached. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in the US, the summer low occurred this year on 11 September. But because sea ice can throw in a late dip or surge, the NSIDC waited until 6 October before finally confirming this summer’s minimum of 4.41m square kilometers (sq km) – the fourth lowest on record. So how did the rest of the season shape up before this point? Read More here