Courtesy of un.org In the early hours of Sunday, 24 November 2013, the 19th Conference of the Parties (COP19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded in Poland, Warsaw. After a 40 hour negotiating marathon, the conference concluded with a package of decisions and an even bigger bunch of undecided issues that will …
Brussels/Paris/Ahmedabad, 16 October 2013. Today, thirty environmental NGOs from Europe and India have sent Open Letters to the French government and EDF Trading to clarify their involvement in a CDM coal power project in India. The project is in violation with domestic laws over negative environmental impacts that pose a threat to the livelihood of …
Brussels, 14 October 2013. At today’s meeting of EU Environment Ministers, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Spain refused to extend the EU-ETS ban on industrial gas offset credits to their national greenhouse gas reduction targets, prompting concern that some EU Member States are not taking their environmental responsibilities seriously. A group of six EU …
Read more “Press Release: Six EU Member States keep doors open to banned carbon credits”
At COP-19 in Warsaw, Parties will continue to discuss the development of new carbon markets under the so called Framework for Various Approaches (FVA). The FVA aims to set common rules for domestic and regional carbon markets to sell market units to other countries for compliance with their climate commitments under the UNFCCC. New regional carbon markets such as emissions trading schemes and offsetting programmes are being developed in many countries, including Japan, California, China and South Korea. Parties decided at COP-17 in 2011 that a framework should be established to enable cost-effective mitigation actions, e.g. by using these carbon markets. At the same time it was decided that a certain set of standards needs to be met. Crucial questions that remain are to what extent such market mechanisms should follow a common framework of rules under the UNFCCC, how and at what level these standards should be implemented and whether access to the framework either as buyers or as sellers will depend on a certain level of ambition.
Brussels, 9 October 2013. A report released today shows that Europe’s Member States will not need to implement new domestic measures between now and 2020 to reach their climate targets. The report is added proof that post 2020 targets need to be much higher to incentivise Europe to go beyond business as usual and to …
The EU’s 2030 Climate Framework must build on ambitious and economy-wide, legally binding climate, renewable energy and energy efficiency targets. Having strong and clearly laid out emission reductions targets for the non-ETS sectors will be vital in order to ensure the EU can meet its low carbon trajectory for 2050. In this article we answer a few of the most important questions about the future of the Effort Sharing Decision.
Dear friends,
The IPCC just released the first part of its new report. The news are daunting. We will see dramatic changes and effects will persist for many centuries even if emissions of CO2 stop. If we don’t act now, climate change will rapidly alter the lands and waters we all depend upon for survival. The 19th international climate negotiation will be held in November in Warsaw. World leaders have done little to halt the climate threat. 19 years ago the UN’s climate change convention was adopted with the goal to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Many countries, including Poland, the host of the upcoming COP are still aggressively promoting coal, the largest contributor to climate change. But there is also good news: Some of the world’s largest banks are starting to limit their funding for coal power. Also interest in CDM coal power projects is shrinking rapidly.
EU policy makers are currently debating the design of the EU’s Climate Framework for the period of 2020-2030. Under the current Climate and Energy package, the use of international offset credits has undermined domestic mitigation action significantly both under the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme and the Effort Sharing Decision. International offsets should therefore no longer be eligible for compliance under the 2030 EU Climate Framework.
Both the CDM and NAMAs have the goal to deliver sustainable development benefits. But for a number of political and structural reasons the CDM has failed to consistently and convincingly deliver such benefits. As NAMA initiatives are kicking off all over the world, we look at what lessons need to be taken into account to create a success story on how sustainable development can be achieved by climate mitigation projects and policies in developing countries.
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