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ENB on the Side - A Special Report on Selected Side Events at the Barcelona Climate Change Talks 2009

2-6 November 2009 | Barcelona, Spain

Events convened on Tuesday, 3 November 2009

Scientific Knowledge to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change
Presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

This event brought together senior members of the IPCC to discuss the key outputs of the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) process and new scientific advances that will be addressed in AR5.

Renate Christ, IPCC Secretary, reported on the 31st session of the IPCC, which took place in Bali, Indonesia, from 26-29 October 2009. She noted a focus on the chapter outlines for AR5, which have more in-depth assessment of various topics, including regional issues, aerosols, sea-level rise, human security, finance and investment.

Rajendra Pachauri, IPCC Chair, highlighted the important role of science as the basis for decision-making on climate change. He emphasized that addressing climate change is also an ethical imperative and that parties need to seal the deal and not “steal the deal” in Copenhagen. He urged a focus on responsibilities to the world as a whole rather than personal and myopic self-interest.

Thomas Stocker, Co-Chair of Working Group I, said AR4 demonstrates that warming is unequivocal and is very likely due to increased greenhouse gas concentrations. He explained that new studies to be assessed in the AR5 show that current greenhouse gas concentrations are 29% higher than any time in the last 800,000 years, that there is widespread and rapid thinning of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, that sea level rise is consistent with earlier projections, and that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the oceans are causing acidification. In terms of new projections, he noted new information on the long-term commitment and irreversibility of carbon dioxide perturbation, widespread increases of health-related heat conditions, and the potential for rapid climate impacts when stopping geo-engineering.

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, IPCC Vice-Chair, noted key examples from Working Group II of current impacts, including glacial retreat in the Himalayas and Andes threatening water supplies for large populations. He stressed that adaptation is critical to addressing unavoidable impacts and that the costs and limitations of adaptation make mitigation important. He also said that risks once considered severe at a 2°C increase are now considered severe at an 1.5°C increase above pre-industrial levels, based on the AR4.

Participants also discussed the projected costs of adaptation, the health impacts of climate change, and geo-engineering.

IISDRS-UNDP-UNEP-FAO-UNFCCC
L-R: Renate Christ, IPCC Secretary; Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, IPCC Vice-Chair; and Thomas Stocker, IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair

Renate Christ, IPCC Secretary

IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri spoke to the session via video, highlighting that in order to keep climate change below 2°C, emissions should peak no later than 2015.

Thomas Stocker, IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, IPCC Vice-Chair

Participants during the side event.

More information
http://www.ipcc.ch/
Contacts
Laura Biagioni (Coordinator) <lbiagioni@wmo.int>
Thomas Stocker<stocker@climate.unibe.ch>
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele<jean-pascal.vanypersele@uclouvain.be>

Financing for Enhanced Climate Change Action
Presented by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

The event focused on key issues relevant to post-2012 financial flows for mitigation and adaptation, including securing the necessary financing, experiences and lessons of managing funds, and matching support with enhanced mitigation and adaptation plans.

Jan Corfee-Morlot, OECD, discussed overall financial architecture and the role of measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) for evaluating the effectiveness of financial support. She focused on how to use limited public and international flows to leverage private flows, build capacity, and improve effectiveness through support of MRV systems in recipient countries.

Rémy Paris, OECD, outlined the Development Assistance Committee’s oversight of development finance to support climate change action. He noted that coordination and monitoring are essential for oversight of mitigation and adaptation programmes.

Jane Ellis, OECD, described matching support with actions, as well as the role of registries in recording actions and identifying further funding needs. She highlighted screening, prioritizing and information feedback as essential steps in matching funds with programmes.

Discussants, including Leif Ervik, Norway, and Kaveh Zahedi, UNEP, spoke about financial flows and programmes in mitigation and adaptation efforts. They identified challenges in terms of negotiating finance in the post-2012 agreement, applying MRV in evaluating funding, and ensuring that recipients are ready to implement programmes for which they are given funding.

L-R: Leif Ervik (Norway); Kaveh Zahedi, UNEP; Jane Ellis, OECD; Jan Corfee-Morlot, OECD; and Rémy Paris, OECD

Jan Corfee-Morlot, OECD, discussed financial, capacity building and technological support for climate policies, and MRV for evaluation of investments.

Leif Ervik (Norway)

Rémy Paris, OECD

Jane Ellis, OECD

Kaveh Zahedi, UNEP

More information
http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/financing
Contacts
Jan Corfee-Morlot <jan.corfee-morlot@oecd.org>
Remy Paris <remi.paris@oecd.org>
Jane Ellis <jane.ellis@oecd.org>
Kaveh Zahedi <kaveh.zahedi@unep.fr>
Leif Ervik <postmottak@fin.dep.no>

Update on National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs)
Organized by the UNFCCC Secretariat

This event examined the status of NAPA implementation and other elements of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) work programme. The event involved participants from the LDC Group, the LDC Expert Group (LEG), and other relevant organizations.

Paul Desanker, UNFCCC Secretariat, noted considerable progress on NAPAs over the past year.

Fred Onduri Machulu, LEG Chair, said NAPA preparation had been a long process, but 43 NAPAs have now been submitted. He reported approval of 33 projects, primarily in Africa. He said agriculture and food security was a focus of many projects, with others focused on coastal systems, water resources, early warning systems and disaster management.

LEG members Ben Karmorh, Liberia, and Beth Lavender, Canada, outlined key products and outcomes relating to the LEG Work Programme for 2008-2010. Key products included additional material in English, French and Portuguese on the UNFCCC website, a technical paper and a “Step-By-Step Guide for Implementing NAPAs.” Work in 2010 will include four regional training workshops and a focus on implementation and lessons learned.

Bruno T. Sekoli, LDC Group Chair, urged funding support for NAPAs, noting that US$2 billion had been proposed as the amount needed for funding NAPA implementation. He supported the LEG continuing beyond 2010.

Delegates were also briefed on the first training workshop on NAPA implementation (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, October 2009) and new NAPAs from Afghanistan and Togo. Several participants also highlighted the issue of co-financing.

L-R: Paul Tchinguilou (Togo); Mohammad Anwarzai (Afghanistan); Bruno Sekoli, LDC Group Chair; Ben Karmorh (Liberia); Beth Lavender (Canada); Fred Onduri Machulu, LEG Chair; and Paul Desanker, UNFCCC Secretariat
Bruno Sekoli, LDC Group Chair
Fred Onduri Machulu, LEG Chair

Mohammad Anwarzai, Afghanistan, spoke about his country’s NAPA, including community-based watershed management.

Paul Tchinguilou (Togo), outlined his country’s sectoral and regional approach to its NAPA, noting that access to funds, procedural issues and lack of capacity were barriers to implementation.
Participants during the discussion.
More information
http://www.unfccc.int/ldc
Contacts
Fred Onduri Machulu (Chair) <leghelp@unfccc.int>
Paul Desanker <pdesanker@unfccc.org>
Ben Karmorh <benkarmorh@yahoo.com>
Beth Lavender <beth.lavender@nrcan.gc.ca>
Bruno Sekoli <bsekoli@hotmail.com>
Paul Tchinguilou <ptching17@yahoo.fr>
Mohammad Anwarzai <manwarzai@aol.com>


Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Investment: Insights for the Negotiations from the Trade and Climate Change Body of Research
Organized by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)

IISD and ICTSD presented insights and lessons on IPRs and investment, focusing on issues of direct relevance to the climate change negotiations.

Mark Halle, IISD, discussed fossil fuel subsidies, which he said distort markets and reduce funding for alternative energy. He suggested that subsidy reform could have a major impact on climate change, given that about one percent of global GDP goes towards such subsidies. He noted widespread subsidies for production in the North and consumption in the South amounting to US$500-750 billion. However, he highlighted obstacles to change, including strong domestic lobbies. He suggested the World Trade Organization and G-20 as possible fora for pursuing change.

Ahmed Abdel Latif, ICTSD, discussed technology transfer in terms of IPR issues such as ownership and licensing. He described research carried out in cooperation with UNEP and the European Patent Office for surveying licensing practices.

Dennis Tirpak, IISD, mapped out the financial architecture of investment after Copenhagen, involving an oversight committee and funding windows, for example for REDD. He said a global climate fund might need parallel national funds for mitigation, forestry, adaptation and capacity building.

Mahesh Sugathan, ICTSD, reviewed issues of energy efficiency and the use of technology transfer to bring about alternative energy development. He said such use would involve mapping technology and reviewing trade flows of technology.

Discussion centered on subsidies issues, IPR, technology transfer and energy equity as aspects of financing climate policies.

L-R: Mark Halle, IISD; Mahesh Sugathan, ICTSD; Ahmed Abdel Latif, ICTSD; Ana Maria Kleymeyer, ICTSD; and Dennis Tirpak, IISD
Mark Halle, IISD, discussed subsidies for oil, coal and gas, which undermine action for combating climate change.
Ana Maria Kleymeyer, ICTSD
Dennis Tirpak, IISD
Mahesh Sugathan, ICTSD

Tariq Banuri, Director, UN Division for Sustainable Development

 

Miquel Muñoz, Boston University, commented on a global feed-in tariff mechanism.

Richard Tarasofsky, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada

More information
http://www.iisd.org/trade/
http://ictsd.net//climate-change/
Contacts
Ana Maria Kleymeyer (Chair) <akleymeyer@ictsd.ch>
Mark Halle <mhalle@iisd.org>
Ahmed Abdel Latif <aabdellatif@ictsd.ch>
Dennis Tirpak <dennis@tirpak.com>
Mahesh Sugathan <smahesh@ictsd.ch>

US Climate Policy and Copenhagen
Presented by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change

Experts from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change provided an update on US climate policy, regulatory actions and their vision of a successful outcome in Copenhagen.

Manik Roy, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, highlighted US domestic climate legislation. He identified key challenges, including lack of public recognition of the problem, partisan politics over the cap-and-trade proposal, the economic crisis, and a focus on health care, Afghanistan and Iraq. He predicted that a climate change bill could pass Congress by March 2010. He highlighted challenges facing the Senate, including achieving a super-majority to pass the legislation and the plethora of committees with jurisdiction over the issue.

Steve Seidel, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, reported that the Environmental Protection Agency has been taking steps to regulate greenhouses gases under the Clean Air Act. He identified some weaknesses of this approach, including the limited reductions achievable under the Act, lack of flexibility, the fact that it is not comprehensive, and the political risks associated with regulatory action.

Elliot Diringer, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said that while a comprehensive, legally-binding agreement with verifiable commitments by all major economies is the ideal outcome in Copenhagen, the best probable outcome is a political agreement establishing a broad architecture. He said an agreement should have a long-term target of reducing emissions by 50% by 2050, mid-term targets or ranges, and a collective peaking year for developing countries. He emphasized MRV and facilitative compliance mechanisms.

Discussions revolved around potential outcomes in Copenhagen, balancing scientific and political imperatives and cap-and-trade versus carbon taxes.

Elliot Diringer, International Strategies, Pew Center

 

Manik Roy, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, highlighted that the Waxman-Markey bill would cover 85% of emissions under cap-and-trade, reduce emissions by 17% by 2020 and 83% by 2050 and include 2 billion tonnes of domestic and international offsets.

Steve Seidel, Policy Analysis, Pew Center

L-R: Manik Roy, Federal Government Outreach, Pew Center; Elliot Diringer, International Strategies, Pew Center; and Steve Seidel, Policy Analysis, Pew Center

More information
http://www.pewclimate.org/side-event/barcelona/11-09
Contacts
Elliot Diringer (Chair) <diringere@pewclimate.org>
Manik Roy <royn@pewclimate.org>
Steve Seidel <seidels@pewclimate.org>

From Concept to Practice: The Place of Sectoral Approaches in the International Post-2012 Architecture
Organized by the European Community

This event considered a study on tradable intensity standards for sector crediting and the links between domestic sectoral programmes and an international post-2012 climate change regime.

Ned Helme, Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP), outlined CCAP’s work on options for developing countries to earn credits from nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs). He presented a paper on “A Tradable Intensity Standard for Sectoral Crediting,” which found that sectoral approaches are feasible for developing countries and can potentially deliver significant emissions reductions. He suggested that a tradable intensity standard could be used to implement a “no-lose” approach to sector crediting in developing countries. He added that intensity standards make more sense for developing countries than absolute targets.

William Whitesell, CCAP, noted that any international framework would have to be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the goals and interests of different developing countries. He suggested that sectoral trading or crediting could be viewed as an interim step towards cap-and-trade, and also outlined how a government-run approach to sectoral crediting could incentivize the private sector.

Andreas Löschel, Centre for European Economic Research, spoke about the trade impacts of a sectoral approach in the cement sector, using preliminary results from a quantitative analysis.

Kim Carnahan, International Emissions Trading Association, reviewed the CCAP paper. She suggested that the list of unresolved issues relating to sectoral crediting continues to increase, and said more work was needed to define what precisely is meant by “intensity” and what is included in a particular sector. She also urged flexibility on applying the most useful solutions to different scenarios, and highlighted challenges with setting baselines.

Participants raised a number of issues, including the details of how crediting would work, the role of governments, and concerns over baselines and compliance.

Anna Solé Mena, European Commission

 

Kim Carnahan, IETA, noted CCAP’s focus on energy intensity and suggested that a focus on absolute targets or baselines in the context of developing countries could be a “non-starter.”

Ned Helme, CCAP, noted his organization’s work on sectoral programmes, including a study of China’s cement and iron and steel sectors, and another on Mexico’s cement and oil refining sectors.

Participants during the side event.

Andreas Löschel, Centre for European Economic Research

L-R: Andreas Löschel, Centre for European Economic Research; Anna Solé Mena, European Commission; William Whitesell, CCAP; and Ned Helme, CCAP

More information
http://www.ccap.org/
http://www.zew.de/en/index.php3
Contacts
Anna Solé Mena (Chair) <anna.sole-mena@ec.europa.eu>
Ned Helme <nhelme@ccap.org>
William Whitesell <wwhitesell@ccap.org>
Andreas Löschel <loeschel@zew.de>
Kim Carnahan <carnahan@ieta.org>

Daily web coverage (click on the following links to see our daily web pages)
2 November - 3 November - 4 November - 5 November - 6 November
ENB negotiations coverage
ENB

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin on the side (ENBOTS) © <enb@iisd.org> is a special publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in cooperation with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat. This issue has been written by William McPherson, Ph.D., Anna Schulz, and Chris Spence. The Digital Editor is Diego Noguera. The Editor is Alexandra Conliffe <alexandra@iisd.org>. The Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI <kimo@iisd.org>. Support for the publication of ENBOTS at the Barcelona Climate Change Talks 2009 has been provided by UNDP, UNEP, FAO and UNFCCC. The opinions expressed in ENBOTS are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD and funders. Excerpts from ENBOTS may be used in non-commercial publications only with appropriate academic citation. For permission to use this material in commercial publications, contact the Director of IISD Reporting Services at <kimo@iisd.org>. Electronic versions of issues of ENBOTS from the Barcelona Climate Change Talks 2009 can be found on the Linkages website at http://enb.iisd.org/climate/rccwg7/enbots/. The ENBOTS Team at the Barcelona Climate Change Talks 2009 can be contacted by e-mail at <chris@iisd.org>.

Related Links
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) resources
Official website
Daily programme
Side Events & Exhibits
AWG-KP documents
AWG-LCA documents
UNFCCC News

UN resources
Gateway to the UN System’s Work on Climate Change
Informal Thematic Debate of the UN General Assembly on Climate Change as a Global Challenge

IISD RS resources
IISD RS coverage of the Bangkok Climate Change Talks - 2009, 28 September - 9 October 2009, UN Conference Centre (UNCC), Bangkok, Thailand
IISD RS coverage of the Bonn Climate Change Talks - August 2009, 10-14 August 2009, Bonn, Germany
IISD RS coverage of the Bonn Climate Change Talks - June 2009, 1-12 June 2009, Bonn, Germany
IISD RS coverage of the UNFCCC Technical Workshop on Increasing Economic Resilience to Climate Change and Reducing Reliance on Vulnerable Economic Sectors through Economic Diversification, 28-30 April 2009, Cairo, Egypt
IISD RS summary report of the Thirtieth Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 21-23 April 2009, Antalya, Turkey (English: HTML - PDF) (Spanish: HTML - PDF) (Japanese: PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the Bonn Climate Change Talks - March/April 2009, 29 March - 8 April 2009, Bonn, Germany
IISD RS summary report of the UNFCCC Workshop on Integrating Practices, Tools and Systems for Climate Risk Assessment and Management and Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies into National Policies and Programmes, 10-12 March 2009, Havana, Cuba (HTML - PDF)

IISD RS coverage of the UN Climate Change Conference - Poznań, 1-12 December 2008, Poznań, Poland
IISD RS coverage of AWG-LCA 2, second part of the AWG-KP 5, and twenty-eighth sessions of the SBSTA and the SBI of the UNFCCC, 2-13 June 2008, Bonn, Germany
IISD RS climate and atmosphere page
Climate-L - A mailing list for news on climate change policy
Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news
MEA Bulletin - Newsletter on key MEAs and their secretariats
Climate Change Policy & Practice - News and information on the actions of international organizations in responding to the problem of global climate change
African Regional Coverage
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