18 May 2017, Climate Home, Climate talks end in call for solidarity, but real Trump test is to come. Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama, the incoming president of the next major climate meeting in November, closed talks in Bonn on Thursday with a call for solidarity. In the past fortnight, UN negotiators continued writing the rules for an agreement designed to change the global energy system. At the same time, they have been faced with the potential withdrawal of the US – the world’s largest economy – from that process. “The ball is being passed to Fiji this year at a very critical time,” said Bainimarama, whose tiny island nation will not actually host the next meeting. Instead talks will recommence in Bonn later this year, presided over by the Fijians. Despite the inevitably more inclement weather, Bainimarama promised the meeting would be infused with a Fijian spirit of “inclusiveness, friendliness and solidarity”. You can also be sure the islanders will highlight how exposed they are to the increasingly intense cyclones, rising sea levels and acidifying oceans that come with global warming. “We who are most vulnerable must be heard,” said Bainimarama, making a point to include residents of Miami and New York in a list of those in peril. “We must speak out for the whole world – every global citizen – because no-one, no matter who they are or where they live, will ultimately escape the impact of climate change.” When negotiators reconvened in Bonn last Monday, the session was predicted to be – depending on whom you asked – dull as a day with no sun or total mayhem. US president Donald Trump was fulminating in the White House over whether to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement. The US team, for years a lynchpin of the negotiations, was arriving with no mandate. And yet, when the plenary hall filled up last Monday morning, with media standing at the back like vultures waiting for a battle, nothing much happened. The great cogs of a process that has run for more than two decades clunked back into gear and the whole show creaked on. In the world outside, a cascade of announcements bolstered the political, legal and economic case for the Paris accord. Trump’s imminent decision was addressed in the first call from France’s newly elected president Emmanuel Macron. He was quickly joined by China’s president Xi Jinping. India’s energy minister also reaffirmed that critical nation’s commitment to the deal. Read More here
Tag Archives: UNFCCC
10 April 2017, Reuters, U.S. scuppers G7 bid to find joint stance on energy and climate. Italian energy minister said the United States is reviewing its strategy on climate change and Paris Agreement. The U.S. administration of Donald Trump on Monday scuppered efforts by the Group of Seven industrialised countries to reach a common stance on energy when it asked for more time to work out its policies on climate change. Trump signed an order in March to undo climate change regulations drawn up under his predecessor Barack Obama, calling into question U.S. support for an international deal to fight global warming. The order’s main target was Obama’s Clean Power Plan, requiring states to slash carbon emissions from power plants – a key factor in U.S. ability to meet commitments under a climate change accord reached by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015. At a news conference wrapping up the G7 Energy meeting in Rome, Italian industry and energy minister Carlo Calenda said the United States was reviewing its strategy on climate change and the Paris Agreement. “While this is under way, the United States reserves its position on these key priorities,” he said. “It was not possible to sign a joint declaration since it would not cover the whole range of topics in the agenda.” Calenda, who chaired the G7 meeting, said all other European Union countries remained strongly committed to the Paris accord to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Speaking from Madrid later on Monday, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Europe would “respect everyone’s opinion on the matter but it would not accept making any steps backward with respect to the strategic choices made on climate change”. Gentiloni is due to meet Trump at a G7 summit Italy will host in Sicily next month, with Italy anxious to get public backing from all leaders on the Paris accords. A source close to the G7 talks said the inability of U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry to commit showed the isolation of the United States at the ministerial meeting. “The U.S. also wanted to include references to coal and fossil fuels,” the source said. During his election campaign, Trump pledged to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, arguing it would hurt U.S. business. Environmental groups have criticised the administration’s order, arguing it runs dangerously counter to the global trend toward cleaner energy technologies. But Washington has still not spelt out its stance on the Paris agreement and some officials hope there is room for manoeuvre. “The talks were constructive and there was no friction,” Calenda said. The Italian minister is due to hold bilateral talks with Perry on Tuesday. (Additional reporting by Isla Binnie in Madrid; Editing by Francesca Landini and Janet Lawrence) Read More here
5 December 2016, The Guardian, Australia is blowing its carbon budget, projections reveal. Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are rising despite global reduction efforts, according to detailed projections made by the consultants NDEVR Environmental. Australia’s emissions jumped by 2.56m tonnes in the three months to September, putting them 1.55m tonnes off-track compared with commitments made in Paris, and 4.06m tonnes over levels demanded by scientifically based targets set by the government’s Climate Change Authority. Emissions for the year to September are above those for the year to September 2015. The results mean Australia has emitted about twice what is allowed by the CCA’s carbon budget since 2013. In the three years and nine months to September 2016, the country emitted 19.8% of its share of what the world can emit between 2013 and 2050 if it intends to maintain a good chance of keeping warming to below 2C. If Australia continues to emit carbon pollution at the average rate of the past year, it will spend its entire carbon budget by 2031. Projected to the current second, the graphic shows how much of the carbon budget has been spent. Read More here
18 November 2016, ECO, UNFCCC – Fossil of the Day – The first Fossil of the Day award goes to…take a deep breath…Turkey, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan and Indonesia for duplicity at the UN climate negotiations. While representatives from climate vulnerable countries, cities, businesses, and civil society organisations are fighting to keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground, as well as preventing the expansion of polluting airports (hat-tip to France), these countries still aim to increase their domestic fossil fuel extraction. By doing so, they are quite literally drilling under everyone’s efforts to keep global warming below the critical threshold of 1.5°C. These countries helped forge the Paris Agreement which is now in force, committing them to halt climate change, so they really need to get the left hand and the right hand talking to each other. Put your money where your mouth is, please! Read More here