Category Archives: Global Action Inaction

PLEA Network

30 October 2015, Carbon Pulse, INDCs will fail to halt global emissions growth by 2030, but door still open to 2C -UNFCCC. INDCs from the 147 parties submitted by Oct. 1 will result in global emissions continuing to rise over the next 15 years though keep the door open to reaching the 2C temperature rise goal, the UNFCCC said in a report on Friday summarising the submitted pledges. The aggregate report, published on the UN website, was requested by almost 200 nations ahead of the December UN climate talks, without any scrutiny of individual INDCs. It found that with the INDCs fulfilled, global emissions would climb to 55 billion tonnes in 2025 and 57 billion tonnes in 2030, though growth in emissions is expected to slow down by a third in the 2010–2030 period compared to the period 1990–2010. This would mean that by 2030 the world had reached 75% of the cumulative emission budget since 2011 that UN-backed scientists say is consistent with the 2C goal. “Fully implemented these plans together begin to make a significant dent in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions: as a floor they provide a foundation upon which ever higher ambition can be built,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, presenting the report at a press conference in Berlin. Read More here

PLEA Network

30 October 2015, Carbon Brief, UN report: Climate pledges fall short of cheapest route to 2C limit. Low ambition in countries’ climate pledges means avoiding dangerous warming will be harder and more costly than it could have been, according to new UN analysis. Today’s synthesis report, from the UN’s climate body (UNFCCC), aggregates the 146Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that had been received by 1 October. It says emissions in 2030 would exceed a cost-effective path to 2C, the internationally agreed safety limit. UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres said the pledges, if implemented, would reduce expected warming of 4-5C to around 2.7C. While the ambition is too low to avoid 2C, she added that current pledges are a “foundation on which even higher ambition can be built”. Carbon Brief looks at the numbers behind the UN’s INDC report and what they mean for 2C. Pile of pledges The UNFCCC has aggregated the impact of 146 INDCs, which together cover all developed nations, three quarters of developing nations and 86% of global greenhouse gas emissions. After the 1 October cut-off for the report, the pledge count has risen to 156, covering 92% of emissions. Of the 146 pledges assessed, 127 offer quantified targets to tackle emissions. Some 59 of these targets are set relative to business as usual emissions, while 31 set absolute goals. Another eight pledge to reduce emissions intensity and three offer peak emissions years. The pile of pledges to limit emissions has therefore more than doubled in size, the UNFCCC says, compared to the 61 parties that had previously made commitments for the years up to 2020. More than half of the INDCs say they will use, or are considering using market based mechanisms. The UNFCCC also breaks down parties’ priorities, as they appear in the INDCs (chart below). Read More here

PLEA Network

28 October 2015, The guardian, Paris climate deal will not include global carbon price, says UN climate chief. Christiana Figueres tells investor event that a climate deal to be agreed in Paris in December will not be able to come up with a global carbon price. A climate change deal to be agreed in Paris in December will not be able to come up with a global carbon price, the United Nations’ climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said on Tuesday. Big multinational companies and investors, and most recently oil majors, have called for a global carbon price to help spur investments in low-carbon energy. A global carbon price would help to create an incentive for operators of power plants and factories to switch to cleaner fuels such as gas or to buy more energy-efficient equipment. When the European Union launched a carbon trading scheme in 2005 there were expectations this would eventually lead to a global carbon scheme by 2020 worth around $2 trillion. But the difficulties of bringing together different carbon schemes from countries around the world means the goal of a global carbon price remains elusive. Read More here

PLEA Network

28 October 2015, The Guardian, World leaders to attend Paris climate summit. At least 80 world leaders, including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, David Cameron and Narendra Modi, will join talks aiming to forge a new global climate deal. Diplomats endorsed the outlines of the proposed deal in Bonn on Friday after five days of fraught negotiation that highlighted just how much work remains to be done in Paris. The aim is to unite all the world’s nations in a single agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping warming at 2C over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. For the opening day on 30 November, “we have already received 80 confirmations, including from the presidents of the United States and China, and the Indian prime minister,” French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, told journalists in Paris on Tuesday.The leaders of Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Canada have also accepted, he said. The last attempt at sealing a global climate pact, in 2009, saw about 110 world leaders descend on a UN summit in Copenhagen for the two final days, only to leave frustrated when the negotiations collapsed. “Together with president Francois Hollande, we decided to invite heads of state to attend the first day and not the end as in Copenhagen,” said Fabius. This had been partly to blame for the failure, he said, “as the negotiators were waiting for heads of state to negotiate, and the heads of state failed to resolve anything.” Read More here