Climate change progress 'too slow'

Helen Briggs BBC 11 Jun 15;

International talks in Bonn have made progress towards a new global deal on climate change, says the UN, amid calls from NGOs for a faster pace.

Countries are working towards options to limit greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 in time for a crunch Paris summit.

The UN said progress had been made towards streamlining the text of a new agreement at talks in Bonn.

Environmental groups said ''difficult issues'' such as finance and emissions cuts had yet to be addressed.

The 11-day meeting is designed to pave the way towards a new global deal on climate change to be signed in Paris at the end of the year.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said ''step-by-step progress'' had been made towards countries' understanding of the text of the agreement and how to move forward.

Laurence Tubiana, special representative for the Paris climate conference, said the talks had been useful and had gained the trust of parties.

''I'm feeling optimistic after these two weeks,'' she said. ''We should not be frustrated and disappointed.''

Concern

However, The World Resources Institute said progress had been ''slow'' and did not match strong signals for ambitious climate action from outside the negotiations.

And Samantha Smith of WWF said that there was growing concern over ''what is needed and what is being promised on finance and emissions''.

''After difficult negotiations, all countries have said that more ambitious, immediate emissions cuts are needed and these commitments must be a clear outcome of the Paris talks,'' she said.

''However, that work needs to speed up too if we are going to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change.''

Delegates will return to Bonn in August and October for more rounds of climate talks, before the summit in Paris at the end of the year.

The key task now is to revise the draft agreement before it reaches heads of state.

Countries are expected to agree to a plan for the co-chairs of the UN climate negotiations to produce a ''clear and concise'' version of the text.

Momentum

Scientists say ambitious action is needed to avert the most severe impacts of climate change.

So far, more than 30 countries have pledged to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, with around 150 smaller countries yet to set goals.

Analysis suggests these do not go far enough to keep global warming below 2C.

Environmental groups point to key developments outside of the negotiations that are adding momentum towards Paris.

They include moves by business, such as Ikea giving $1bn to expand renewable energy and climate adaptations in developing countries.

G7 leaders have also signalled the need for action with a call for greenhouse gas emissions cuts and a move towards a low carbon future.

Bonn meeting ends with last-minute compromise on Paris climate text
Countries agree to let co-chairs of the negotiations to make their own alterations to the draft and present it for approval in July
Fiona Harvey The Guardian 11 Jun 15;

Climate change negotiators meeting in Bonn on Thursday came up with a last-minute compromise that observers hope will put the talks on track for a new global agreement on greenhouse gases.

Slow progress was made until the final hours, as nations wrangled over the wording of an 89-page draft text, intending to cut it down to a more manageable size. After two weeks, the text had been cut by just four pages to 85.

But shortly before the talks were scheduled to finish, countries agreed that the co-chairs of the negotiations should be allowed to make their own alterations to the text, and present it to all countries for approval, probably in late July. This should be a quicker process, though there is no guarantee that countries will not try to re-draw the new draft when it becomes available.

The talks in Bonn were a staging post on the way to a crunch conference in Paris this December, at which countries are supposed to sign a new global agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, to take effect from 2020 when current emissions commitments run out.

Elliot Diringer, executive vice president of the US Centre for Energy and Climate Solutions, told the Guardian: “There was little chance the parties themselves were going to be able to whittle down the text to a manageable size. Thankfully, they’ve entrusted the co-chairs to do that so they can get down to the real give-and-take next time. That’s a healthy sign.”

Samantha Smith, leader of the global climate and energy initiative at WWF, said: “Progress in Bonn has been slow, but a bigger concern is the growing gap between what is needed and what is being promised on finance and emissions. While much work remains to close that gap, there is hope that governments are finally committed to take more action on emissions prior to 2020.

“All countries have said that more ambitious, immediate emissions cuts are needed: however, that work needs to speed up if we are going to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change.”

The Bonn talks are a staging post on the way to a crunch conference in Paris this December, at which governments are hoping to sign a new global pact, to take effect from 2020, when current commitments from developed and large developing countries to limit their emissions are set to expire.

Jennifer Morgan, global director of the climate programme at the World Resources Institute, a US thinktank, pointed to progress made outside the talks, such as the G7’s vow to decarbonise their economies this century, and commitments by developing countries, cities and businesses on emissions.

“This week, strong signals were sent for ambitious climate action from outside the negotiations, but they did not inspire a faster pace in Bonn. Momentum is growing ahead of the Paris climate talks [but] the modest progress made in Bonn did not match the significant action taking place around the world.”

The talks have been mired in discussions ranging from concern over whether rich countries will follow through on their current pledges to provide financial assistance to the poor world, to arcane quibbles over single words in the text.

At one point, the discussion was divided over whether to use the terms “differentiated commitments/contributions”, referring to targets on cutting emissions, or the term “commitments/contributions/action”. The former was preferred by China, the latter by the US.

The distinction may seem trivial, but it points to some of the entrenched attitudes that have dogged the talks over more than two decades.

“Differentiated” comes from a term used in the original UN treaties, as “common but differentiated responsibilities” was used as the way of encoding the fact that all countries, developed and developing, have an interest in alleviating climate change, but that their responsibilities varied based on historical emissions and economic development.

China is adamant that the phrase, known as CBDR in the UN jargon, is core to any existing or potential new agreement, but the US – though it accepts the principle – is wary of the phrase because it believes it has been used in the past to draw a clear dividing line between developed and developing countries. These categories are no longer so clear-cut, according to the US, because of the rapid progress of emerging economies. China, for instance, is now the world’s biggest emitter and second biggest economic power.

Moving beyond these entrenchments was always going to be a struggle, and the Bonn talks have proved no exception to the routine of long and difficult meetings, bogged down in detail, that have characterised the long-running negotiations.

However, some delegates found room for optimism in the fact that, unlike previous meetings, this fortnight’s talks have not been fractious. “There has been no drama, no theatrics,” said Diringer. “The atmosphere has not been like that.”

He praised the co-chairs of the talks, who will be key to getting countries together to form an agreement. “The co-chairs have done a very artful job of building trust and that’s paying off. All the issues are still on the table, and there’s enormous work to be done, but there’s a clear plan for moving forward. That’s probably the best we could have hoped for at this stage.”

Mohamed Adow, senior climate change adviser at the charity Christian Aid, said that a meeting of key ministers, pegged for late July in Paris, must clear the ground for an agreement.

“The crunch issues that ministers need to work on are ensuring that the Paris deal is funded, that it protects vulnerable communities and it has a mechanism to increase ambition over time. It is vital that when ministers meet in Paris on July 20-21 that they resolve these sticking points so that when formal talks resume in August countries will have no excuses.”

Nations warn time running short to prepare Paris climate deal
Alister Doyle and Megan Rowling PlanetArk 12 Jun 15;

Several nations expressed growing unease on Thursday that time is running short to resolve disputes about global warming after U.N. talks ended with little progress toward an international deal to combat climate change meant to be agreed in December.

Delegates representing almost 200 countries trimmed a few pages off an 89-page draft text at the June 1-11 preparatory meeting in Bonn, but stopped short of confronting major underlying issues such as whether to set a global goal for phasing out greenhouse gases this century.

Several governments called for a faster pace, noting there were only two preparatory sessions left before a summit in Paris in December meant to agree a global deal.

"We have not seen as much progress as we would like," said Elina Bardram, head of the European Commission delegation. "It is not something we can tinker around with indefinitely."

A senior U.S. official called the meeting productive but said: "We would like the pace to be quicker." Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: "These are negotiations of great moment to countries. The details matter a lot."
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The United Nations said the talks were on track.

"This is a step-by-step process," Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told a news conference, saying there had been progress in streamlining the text and clarifying options for action.

Su Wei, China's chief negotiator, said all countries wanted an "ambitious and balanced outcome in Paris" to limit greenhouse gases.

The U.N. panel of climate scientists says it is at least 95 percent probable that most global warming since 1950 is caused by human activities, led by burning fossil fuels.

The Alliance of Small Island States, representing nations from the Pacific to the Caribbean at risk from rising sea levels, said there had been progress in Bonn but: "We are acutely aware that we still have considerable work."

Negotiators meet again in August and October but delegates say the toughest issues will be left for Paris, including aid for developing nations and how to make the deal legally binding.

Nations asked the co-chairs of the meeting to work on the draft text before the next meeting.

Co-chair Ahmed Djoghlaf accused the media of being too negative. "Saying that the process is going nowhere is not a responsible statement," he said. "The job is huge, we are talking about a revolution."

On Monday, the Group of Seven industrialized nations set a goal of phasing out global fossil fuel emissions by 2100. The U.N. talks are deeply split about whether to follow suit.

Many developing nations favor a tougher deadline of 2050 for shifting to renewable energies while some OPEC producers would prefer to omit any deadlines at all.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

UN climate talks inch forward, putting off tough decisions
KARL RITTER Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Jun 15;

BONN, Germany (AP) — Two weeks of U.N. climate talks ended Thursday with negotiators trimming a draft global climate pact but leaving core sticking points to be untangled later, before a December summit in Paris where the landmark agreement is to be adopted.

Frustrated by the slow pace of the climate talks, some negotiators and observers called the Bonn meeting a squandered opportunity to capture the momentum of a declaration this week by seven world leaders including President Barack Obama endorsing a long-term goal of decarbonizing the global economy — moving away from a dependence on fossil fuels.

"We must go faster," said European Union delegate Ilze Pruse.

Earlier, officials leading the Bonn talks called for patience, with co-chair Ahmed Djoghlaf telling reporters no one can craft a universal agreement with more than 190 countries overnight.

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together," he said.

He noted that some delegates worked so hard in Bonn they missed Saturday's Champions League soccer final in Berlin.

French climate envoy Laurence Tubiana likened the pain-staking U.N. process to giving birth, saying it's difficult to judge the outcome until everything is done.

"You have to wait until the baby is born to see its face," she said.

The Paris deal, which is supposed to take effect in 2020, would be the first where both rich and poor countries pledge to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases that scientists say are raising global temperatures, resulting in more intense heat waves, rising sea levels and other climate impacts.

A previous agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, only required rich countries to take action.

In Bonn, negotiators reorganized sections as they shortened a 90-page text to 85 pages. The co-chairs were asked to streamline the text further by August.

The draft still contains multiple options on contentious issues, including how to differentiate between the obligations of rich and poor countries to fight climate change and what commitments of financial support to fight climate change poor nations want from the rich.

It remains unclear whether the pact will be legally binding.

Also undecided is whether the first round of emissions targets should cover the 2020-2025 period or 2020-2030. Most targets submitted so far are for the latter, while the United States insists on the former.

"The modest progress made in Bonn did not match the significant action taking place around the world," said Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.

Norway, meanwhile, recently announced its $900 billion oil fund would divest from coal — the most polluting fuel — and Pope Francis is expected to release his high-level teaching document on ecology and climate change next week.

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Karl Ritter can be reached on Twitter at twitter.com/karl_ritter