CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS WARSAW · NOVEMBER 2013 NGO NEWSLETTER

COP 19 ­ ISSUE NO 10 PAGE 1 FREE OF CHARGE

2211NNoovveemmbbeerrCommit &

Deliver

ECO has been published by Non­Governmental Environmental Groups at major international conferences since the Stockholm EnvironmentConference in 1972. ECO is produced co­operatively by the Climate Action Network at the UNFCCC meetings in Warsaw, November 2013.

ECO email: administration@climatenetwork.org ­ New ECO website: http://eco.climatenetwork.org ­ Editorial/Production: Fred Heutte

ADP: Elements of Urgency and ActionIt was an all too familiar feeling when

Parties started repeating their well­knownpositions and citing already agreed de­cisions here in Warsaw. But ECO doeslike the recent trend citing one key notion:urgency.AOSIS has made significant efforts to

establish a concrete technical process toaccelerate action on renewables and en­ergy efficiency – that’s a direct way toclose the ambition gap.Columbia (AILAC) and The Gambia

(LDCs) have been trying to capture thediscussion of ‘elements’ in the 2015agreement in as concrete and formal amanner as possible.And the LDCs and Trinidad and Tobago

have stressed the need for a compliancemechanism item in the list of issues todiscuss next year. Those are all elementsof action that respond to urgency.

The Like­Minded Developing Countriesstressed another very important issue.Finance, technology and capacity­build­ing support are essential for developingcountries to implement their NAMAs.On the other hand, the proposal from

various like­minded countries to deleteparagraph 9 altogether is a disappointingdevelopment.For a change, we can even commend

some developed countries, in addition toSwaziland (African Group) and SouthAfrica, for their efforts to specify thetimeline and concrete steps toward Paris.Norway made a good proposal to havemitigation commitments presented within2014.And we especially welcome the African

Group's comments on the necessity tocheck the adequacy and equity of com­mitments, and South Africa's support for

an equity reference framework.Furthermore, today in the High Level

Segment presentations, the Chineseminister called for the adoption of a workplan towards agreement on the 2015deal.With all these good proposals on the

table, ECO has to wonder why Partiesstill seem to be unable to find commonground to produce a clear work plan withmilestones to address both closing thepre­2020 ambition gap and agreeing the2015 deal.We are coming to the final hours of this

conference. The time for reiteration andrecitation has ended. The co­chairs havemade it clear: this is decision time.Parties now have to show they havecome to Warsaw to make progress, notjust to repeatedly repeat what they havealready repeated.

Ontario Moves Beyond Coal

counterpart. Here are somerelevant ideas for real cli­mate action: promoting re­newables and energyefficiency, getting rid of

After being subjected to the taste of coal inthe air and statements about the inevitabilityof continued coal use for almost two weeks,at last we have exciting news from the Cana­dian province of Ontario. The provincial gov­ernment has just announced it will switch offits last active coal­fired power plant withinweeks.This will make Canada’s most populous

province the first jurisdiction in the world tocomplete a coal phase­out. Just 10 years agocoal was 27% of the energy mix in Ontario’spower sector, with a total capacity of 7,500MW. This week’s announcement is an ex­ample of how political will, spurred by publicconcern and combined with smart policies

supporting energy efficiency and renewables,can help break coal addiction. As a result,smog, dust and mercury levels have alreadyfallen substantially, and GHG emissions fromthe Ontario electricity sector were slashed by75%, making this the largest carbon reductionproject in North America.Note that this feat was achieved despite a

federal policy environment in Canada that isentirely hostile to climate action and has beenmoving the country in the opposite direction.Case in point: in the same period of the coalphase­out unfolded in Ontario, emissionsfrom tar sands oil, a resource aggressivelypromoted by the federal Conservative gov­ernment, soared by roughly the same amount

that the Ontario coal phase­out saved. So ineffect the additional emissions from tar sandsexploitation have cancelled the gains fromOntario’s flagship climate action program.Federally promoted tar sands growth is also

the single biggest reason why Canada’s ownestimated emissions growth is 20% above thetarget pledged in Copenhagen.While it’s a good thing the new Canadian en­

vironment minister decided to attend theWarsaw COP, ECO wants to remind her thatclaiming to play a leadership role on climate isnot the same as actually being a leader. Per­haps she should have a word with her Ontario

continued on page 2

CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS WARSAW · NOVEMBER 2013 NGO NEWSLETTER

COP 19 ­ ISSUE NO 10 PAGE 2 FREE OF CHARGE

The First Place Fossil goes toIndia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,Malaysia, and China for propos­ing to delete the only reference toequity in para 9 of the ADP text.Equity is key to the 2015 agree­ment and Parties must leaveWarsaw with a clear understand­ing of how the ex ante review willbe conducted. We were shockedthat with all the discussions hereand in Bonn, equity did not yieldmore than a passing reference inthe first version of the ADP text.The next iteration must expandand not ‘streamline’ references toequity. To these members of theLike­Minded Group, we urge youto engage in the development ofan ex ante review, rather than hov­ering over the delete button.The Second Place Fossil goes

to Australia, who along with someother developed countries is im­peding progress towards settingup an international mechanism onloss and damage. Trying to keepout key text elements proposed bymore than 130 developing coun­tries, delaying negotiation pro­gress through procedural manoeu­vres, and lacking a clear commit­ment to strong support provisionsin the decision text is highly con­cerning. Australia is the leader ofthose lacking constructive spirit.We call on the other developed

countries to work seriously for theneeds of the most vulnerablecountries and help in establishingan effective international mechan­ism on loss and damage.

The new edition of the Climate Change Per­formance Index (CCPI), which ranks the climateprotection performance of the 58 largest emittingcountries worldwide, was released by German­watch and CAN Europe this week. The reportshows worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emis­sions continue to climb, and not a single countryis on track to deliver their fare share of emissionreductions.But there are some rays of hope this year. There

appears to be a slowdown in the rate of increasefor global CO2 emissions. And China, the highestemitter on a national basis, improved its perform­ance.While no country performed well enough to earn

a coveted top­3 ranking, Denmark led the leaguetable, improving their score in nearly every sec­tor. The UK took 5th place, up from 10th, due toan emissions decrease of 15% in the last 5 yearsplus improvements in energy efficiency.But you won’t be surprised that Canada and

Australia are the bottom ranked performersamong industrialised countries, while Japan alsodropped several notches. Australia is ranked 57th

but its recent election produced a governmentthat is backtracking even from there. Canada stillshows no intention of moving forward with mean­ingful climate policy and remains at a humiliating58th position. Only Iran (59), Kazakhstan (60)and Saudi Arabia (61) have worse ratings.For the first time Germany has dropped out of

the top ten, sliding from 8th to 19th position, oneof the biggest losers in this year’s index. Themain reason is the country’s dithering on EU cli­mate policy. And to no one’s surprise, Poland’soverall performance (45th place) remains one ofthe worst in the entire EU.Every country can endeavour to improve its

CCPI ranking by addressing a few critical factors.Improvements in renewable energy must contin­ue; efficiency levels must increase; countriesmust take bold national climate policy decisions;and effective coalitions between front­runner na­tions should be strengthened. Those are exactlythe same actions needed to close the pre­2020emission gap so that an international climateagreement worth the name can be finalised in2015.

fossil fuel subsidies, phasing out coal and revers­ing oil growth are all good.At the same time we are celebrating the Ontario

announcement as a clear sign that the end of thecoal era is coming, there are also encouragingsigns internationally.Yesterday the UK announced they would build

on the new US policy to end financing of coal­fired power plants abroad. As the energy and cli­

mate minister rightly pointed out, ‘It is completelyillogical for countries like the UK and the US to bedecarbonizing our own energy sectors while pay­ing for coal­fired power plants to be built in othercountries’. Now it’s time for Japan, Germany andother countries that continue to finance coalabroad to join this positive effort to phase outglobal fossil fuel subsidies.Congrats, Ontario.

The CCPI 2013 Performance Rankings

Ontario, from page 1

ECO nodded off during the plenary andheard this:

°

A Down Under Daydream

Well, it was a pleasant fewmoments anyway, But then it wasback to plenary reality . . .