Bonn Climate Change Conference - June 2015

Moderator Tasneem Essop, WWF, introduced the session, which considered the challenges and potential solutions for addressing the pre-2020 ambition gap in mitigation and finance.

Jaco du Toit, WWF, spoke on the emissions gap, stating that the carbon budget of 750GtC, which is the estimated maximum level of carbon to leave a 66% chance of remaining within the 1.5ºC limit, will be exhausted within 18 years at the current emissions rate. He stated that workstream two of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) on increasing pre-2020 ambition should take priority over work on the post-2020 agreement, noting the potential of renewable energy to enable rapid emissions reductions.

Maeve McLynn, CAN Europe, presented on the “100 billion dollar question” of how to increase climate finance to close the emissions gap. She noted the political implications of scaling up finance, stressing its importance in rebuilding trust between countries, and highlighted the need to direct attention to adaptation financing as well as mitigation. She discussed, inter alia: increasing support for low-carbon projects in developing and developed countries; innovative financing, such as emissions trading schemes and financial transaction taxes; and redirecting spending on fossil fuel subsidies to renewable energies.

Lutz Weischer, Germanwatch, presented on scaling up action in developed countries, stating that research from the Carbon Tracker Analysis shows that pledges from G7 and the EU only amount to 5% of that needed by 2020 to stay within the 2ºC pathway. He discussed potential low-cost, high-benefit options for achieving emissions reductions, including: discontinuing the construction of fossil fuel-based infrastructure such as pipelines and coal plants; ending fossil fuel subsidies; and divesting from fossil fuels.

Discussions followed, considering: technological innovation to reduce emissions in the transport sector; cooperation between ministries to streamline budgetary policies; regulatory tools to achieve “radical” emissions reductions within developed countries; competition between official development assistance and climate financing; achieving political will for scaling up ambition; financial risks of investing in fossil fuel-based infrastructure; sustainable development and avoiding “fossil fuel lock-in;” and the importance of political leadership and effective communication of climate change through the media.

Andrew Mitchell, Founder and Director, GCP, moderated the session, calling for the consideration of other sources of finance for REDD+ in order to generate funds to adequately address the drivers of deforestation.

Jesse Uzzell, Jadora, spoke on his organization’s work in generating and selling forest carbon credits, also known as emission offsets, from standing forests. He highlighted ongoing work on a Democratic Republic of Congo project, and listed bottlenecks for REDD+ project support. Explaining that REDD+ carbon credits are stuck in voluntary markets, he called for a clear pathway to compliance markets as an outcome from the Paris agreement. On scaling up REDD+ financing, he acknowledged that the demand for carbon credits is low, highlighting that this reality does not guarantee potential investors in the current market a return on their investment.

Stressing that forests are necessary for mitigation, Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC-Berlin) and EDF, spoke on building a finance bridge for private finance investment in REDD+. She highlighted entry points for private sector investment, including: corporate social responsibility and offsetting requirements; supply-chain greening; and non-traditional ones including the need to fulfill the requirements of sustainability indices, as well as bank lending conditions. Fuss suggested a bridging proposal for REDD+ financing that would guarantee a minimum price for REDD+ credits covering the transition to future carbon markets.

Lucy Goodman, GCP, spoke on financing sustainable pathways to REDD+ compared to business as usual models, noting that green bonds may present a solution. She described green bonds as debt instruments, which also need to support low carbon and climate-resilient development. She discussed the risks of green bonds including lack of return on investment; non-payment of interest; REDD+ activities not being carried out; environmentally unfriendly activities being carried out; and the social benefits not being shared with all the stakeholders.

Christina MacFarquhar, GCP, spoke on REDD+ safeguards concerning Indigenous Peoples' rights and participation, and the transparency of the REDD+ process, particularly considering who is responsible for monitoring these safeguards. She highlighted community-based monitoring schemes in Guyana and Indonesia, where Indigenous Peoples are actively engaged in, inter alia, gathering information on land incursions, and on whether they themselves feel involved in the REDD+ process. In the discussion, participants raised issues on: community-based monitoring of REDD+ activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the criteria for measuring the success of community-based monitoring; free prior informed consent from communities before the inception of REDD+ projects; and financing for social issues related to REDD+.

This side event, jointly organized by Greenpeace, the World Future Council (WFC), World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), and Climate Action Network (CAN) considered the path to achieving the total decarbonization of the energy sector. 

Discussing opportunities and challenges in achieving an energy mix solely of renewable energy (100% RE), Sven Teske, Greenpeace International, outlined seven steps to attain the goal, including: defining natural limits such as renewable energy availability and decarbonization needs; identifying drivers of energy demand; identifying implementation timelines; identifying required infrastructure; selecting required policies; and defining energy potentials by sectors. Presenting preliminary findings of his study, he noted that the path to energy-sector decarbonization could be 7-10 years before the timeline predicted by the International Energy Agency.

Highlighting that over half of the global growth in CO2 was due to Chinese coal consumption, Li Shuo, Greenpeace East Asia/China said any global climate solution would need to address this issue. Noting that China’s coal consumption had dropped by 2.9% for the first time since 1998, Li wondered if that was the peak point in Chinese coal consumption. Li further noted the decoupling of economic growth from coal consumption and said the implications for emissions of such a change would be profound.

Irene Garcia, World Future Council, highlighted Morocco’s three pillared national energy strategy: national regulations to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies; creation of national institutions to manage renewable energy programs; and focus on foreign direct investment in the clean energy sector. She also suggested policy recommendations, including: the need for a visioning exercise, and embedding renewable energy strategy into national economic development plans with a comprehensive, integrated framework.

Highlighting the important role of wind power in countries like Denmark, Spain, Portugal and Uruguay, Stefan Gsänger, WWEA, said attractive aspects of wind energy including security of energy supply, environmental sustainability, affordability and low risk drive its demand. He identified finance as a bottleneck and suggested that the Green Climate Fund could set up a feed-in tariff (FiT) facility to afford credibility to FiT schemes in developing countries.

Sixbert Mwanga, CAN Tanzania, identified opportunities presented by achieving 100% renewable energy in the energy mix, including: access to clean energy to transform livelihoods; quick and reliable access to affordable energy; local and national energy security; and reduced emissions due to avoided fossil fuel use. He underlined the challenges faced, including: competition from heavily subsidized fossil fuels, and lack of political will leading to a reluctance by the private sector to invest.

During discussions, participants exchanged views on, among others: drivers of reduced coal consumption in China such as structural changes of the Chinese economy; best practices for fossil fuel subsidy reform; export of Chinese energy technologies, including coal and wind; and the problems of corruption.

Session moderator Robert Kehew, UN Habitat, spoke on the coordination of the two global agendas related to cities, namely the climate change agreement in Paris in 2015, and discussions on a new urban agenda at Habitat III Quito in 2016.

Daniele Violetti, Chief of Staff, UNFCCC, acknowledged the importance of cities and subnational level actors in addressing climate change, noting that a recent study concluded that 90% of cities are in coastal and low-lying areas. He highlighted workstream two discussions at the UNFCCC involving contributions from non-state actors including from the subnational level, including Technical Expert Meeting discussions on the work of cities in enhancing energy efficiency.

Jürgen Nimptsch, Mayor of Bonn and member of the Executive Board of ICLEI, spoke on inclusiveness and ambition at the city level, stressing that “nothing works without these two elements.” He underlined the importance of including the citizenry in city planning processes, and engaging them in ambitious plans. He highlighted ICLEI’s Transformative Actions Programme, noting that this opens the door for cities’ engagement at COP 21, and called for both the Paris agreement and the Quito outcome on a new urban agreement to enhance climate change action at the cities level.

On the potential involvement of local authorities in planning processes such as National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Nummelin Matti, member of the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG), emphasized the role of NAP global support programmes and highlighted other tools, programmes and products of the LEG, including: NAP Central, a website hosted by the UNFCCC where information on adaptation is gathered; and the NAP Expo which encourages information exchange.

Highlighting climate change, peace and security, and inequality as emerging issues for cities, Roi Chiti, Habitat III Secretariat, said Habitat III was taking place in the context of changes in the form of urbanization, higher demand for participation, and a growing global recognition of the role of urbanization. He identified entry points for local authorities to get involved, including inter alia, participating in national Habitat III reporting procedures, organizing national urban forums, and engaging in the intergovernmental process itself.

Stressing the need to mainstream climate change in national planning processes, Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, UN Development Programme (UNDP), listed UNDP’s priorities on the road from Paris to Quito, including: addressing governance issues that usually pit environment ministries against finance ministries; integrating solutions for both climate change and cities; and addressing the barriers to private investment in climate actions.

In the discussion, participants considered, among others, the role of the Global Compact in uniting cities to address climate change and the challenges faced in implementing the Compact; the need for the sustainable development goals to catalyze action in cities in coastal areas; how cities can influence the creation of ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contributions; and the need for diversity and inclusiveness in development planning.

Charles Mutai, Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Kenya, delivered opening remarks, pointing to the importance of agriculture to socioeconomic activity in Africa and the resulting vulnerability to the agriculture-related impacts of climate change. He described policies to address climate change in Kenya, noting the need for enhanced coordination of sectoral policies and institutional arrangements between different ministries.

Kevin Coffey, CCAFS, presented on expanding the contribution of early warning systems, noting the need to link these more effectively to decision-making processes to enable efficient responses. He highlighted recommendations, including: establishing objective rules for response measures based on parametric triggers; integrating early warning information into development activities; broadening dissemination of information to community levels; and incorporating feedback into early warning systems.

Julian Smith, Food and Environment Research Agency, discussed the implications of climate change for the spread of pests in crops, livestock and aquatic ecosystems, observing that global distributions of crops will be transformed by climate change. Distinguishing between progressive trends and erratic shocks, he noted the particular difficulty in adapting to shocks, calling for further research on anticipating and preventing their effects on the spread of agricultural pests. He discussed the impact of extreme weather events on global trade routes, noting that such changes play a role in increasing the global spread of pests from infected to previously non-infected areas.

Abdulai Jalloh, West Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development, spoke on enhancing dialogue on adaptation between researchers and policymakers, presenting experience from the ‘AfricaInteract’ project. He noted an aim of the project to respond to challenges of uncertainty regarding different regional impacts of climate change by enabling Africa to build its own knowledge base to inform evidence-based policy making. He highlighted that a key finding of the project was evidence of local knowledge-based autonomous adaptation by crop farmers, pastoralists and fisherfolk. Among other recommendations, he suggested that adaptation measures should be tested for contribution to resilience across the entire food chain.

James Kinyangi, CCAFS, launched the CCAFS Info Notes and UNFCCC Guidance to Negotiations Toolkit, a set of tools and working papers available for consultation on the CCAFS website.

George Wamukoya, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), moderated discussions, before concluding the session by highlighting the importance of using scientific research and knowledge to inform policymaking frameworks and negotiating positions of African countries in order to lend credibility to policies and level the playing field between negotiators in the developing world and those in the developed world.