As part of our project with Latvian NGO homo ecos:, Kathryn Wright, Bunyod Holmatov, and I are keeping an eye on topics here at COP18 that are important to Latvia. Aviation and maritime transport (shipping) are vital to the Latvian economy, which relies heavily on the sector to maintain connections to other nations in the EU and around the world. The UNFCCC has expressed interest in taking action to limit emissions from this sector, as it is both carbon-intensive and global in nature. Parties agree that regulation of aviation and shipping should occur through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Maritime Organization (IMO), but disagree over what “signal” the UNFCCC should send to the ICAO and IMO…
The COP18 UN climate negotiations have kicked off without too much fanfare. Host country Qatar is hosting its largest ever conference, with an expected 17,000 participants, including 1,500 media (although I heard only about half of these anticipated media actually got accredited). So far, expectations are quite muted for the conference, with Doha meant to be mainly an "implementation" Conference of Parties (COP) meeting that will not end in the high drama and pressure of its predecessors, Durban, Cancun, and Copenhagen.
This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post and The Metric, the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy's blog.
Expectations for the global climate negotiations taking place over the next two weeks in Doha, Qatar, are dismally low, and major political transitions in China and the United States – the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases – further temper hope for any kind of game-changing proposal. So what are the more than 7,000 civil society members and 1,500 journalists(myself included) in attendance going to do to make their opinions count and to hold their governments accountable for accomplishing something in Doha?
Well, there’s an app for that, and it’s called DecisionMakr.
Having attended many of these negotiations in the past, I question the value of emitting carbon…
Kivalina clings to the tip of a wisp of a barrier island jutting into the Chukchi Sea. Home to less than 400 people, Kivalina, Alaska, is a windswept collection of buildings: a school, a store, homes. The Inupiat ancestors of Kivalina’s residents have persisted through harsh environmental conditions at or near the village’s current location – 80 miles from the Arctic Circle – for thousands of years. But new environmental challenges may force the residents to leave.
In October, a group of FESers traveled to Kivalina to gain a better understanding of this community’s experience at the frontline of climate change. They learned from a 77-year-old village elder and whale boat captain that whale hunting – a practice which has coloured Inupiat folklore, and provided sustenance and…
The next round of United Nations climate negotiations is gearing up to take place starting next week in Doha Qatar, where countries will look to both China and the United States to see whether domestic political events will provide any momentum for the stalling talks. However, because of the proximity of the U.S. Presidential Election and the start of China’s once-in-a-decade leadership transition that will culminate in March, it is not expected that the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) will be bringing too much by way of game-changing developments to Doha. Instead, we can expect most of the discussions in Doha to focus on securing final details for a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol, primarily for the E.U. and now Australia, as well as starting to formulate language for a new deal that will be decided by 2015.
Climate change once more attracts the attention of Heads of States, country negotiators, civil society, the private sector and individuals from around the globe as we approach the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Doha, Qatar, in only 2 weeks. One may hypothesize that the very diversity of backgrounds that participants bring to the conference exemplifies one of the main problems of the climate negotiations – how can fruitful communication really be enabled to unify the different areas of work in climate change?
The world will be watching closely as Party countries negotiate in the official climate change negotiations of the international community, over a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which to date is…
This post originally appeared on ChinaFAQs.
By Angel Hsu, Jonathan Smith, and Max Song
The idea of a total cap on energy consumption in China, first suggested last March before the National People’s Congress has reemerged in Durban, and surprisingly there are now suggestions that China might consider some kind of a cap on carbon emissions. This has been suggested apparently as part of domestic policy rather than as a negotiating position, but details are very sketchy.
Over the last week, we have been witnessing an active debate amongst Chinese academics and researchers on energy and carbon caps, although these discussions have taken place separately, from outside the plenary floor and in the multitude of side events the Chinese delegation has been hosting. Chinese negotiators have been careful to not muddy the…
China's Vice Minister for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua launches the China Pavilion alongside UNFCCC Secretariat Cristiana Figueres.
This post originally appeared on ChinaFAQs. When China launched its first official pavilion at a UN climate conference on Sunday, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat Cristiana Figueres was there alongside China’s NDRC Vice Minister Xie Zhenhua to cut the ribbon. Swarmed by journalists in the standing-room only conference center of the China pavilion in Durban, Figueres applauded China for being a “trend-setter” in global renewable energy, resonating around the world and during the first week of climate negotiations in Durban. “As I look at what has happened here at Durban in the negotiations this past week, what I see is a sailboat that has been sailing over very difficult…
This post originally appeared on ChinaFAQs.
By Angel Hsu, Max Song, and Jonathan Smith
As the first week of the UN climate negotiations in Durban are underway, one of the most persistent themes has been how to bridge gaps - the divide between the developed and developing countries, many of whom disagree about whether the Kyoto Protocol should be extended into a second commitment period; the hole in climate finance pledges from developed countries; and the ambition or emissions gap between the Copenhagen pledges and the stabilization of global temperatures below a 2 degrees Celsius increase from pre-industrial levels.
These three major gaps must be addressed in Durban. One major question will be whether developing and some developed countries, Europe in
Interview with China energy expert Jiang Kejun, Energy Research Institute, NDRC
Good morning FES-
The COP17 events kicked into high gear at the welcome party at City Hall last night (seriously, the African dancers were doing these super high kicks as part of their routine, very impressive). UNFCCC Secretariat Christiana Figueres and other dignitaries also got a chance to boogie down on stage for climate change - a nice albeit unexpected end to the evening.
Now on to serious business.
I thought that it would be helpful to write a post about "thought-lenses" to utilize as you try to understand why and how the COP process is developing in Durban. These are small points that will hopefully aid you in "seeing the picture on the
I thought that it would be helpful to write a post about "thought-lenses" to utilize as you try to understand why and how the COP process is developing in Durban. These are small points that will hopefully aid you in "seeing the picture on the
