Negotiations at COP18 on the future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) started off with some good options in the negotiating text prepared by the Chair. However, throughout the sessions on the CDM, the draft negotiation text was remarkably weakened and the final version does not address the significant quality concerns recently highlighted by scientists. …
Read more “Clean Development Mechanism – Grim Future (COP18 analysis)”
The Joint Implementation (JI) has had a rather poor track record. Countries such as Ukraine have been issuing millions of JI credits with virtually no integrity or climate benefits. Carbon Market Watch developed detailed recommendations on JI ahead of COP18 in Doha. Yet Parties postponed most of the important decisions to next year. Key decisions …
Read more “Joint Implementation: Important Decisions Postponed (COP18 analysis)”
One of the real hot issues in Doha was how Parties would deal with the 13 billion left over pollution permits from the first Kyoto commitment period. These so called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) are owned mostly by countries of the former Soviet bloc. They are called ‘hot air’ because they are the result of …
Read more “Bursting Kyoto’s Hot Air Bubble (COP18 analysis)”
See Watch This! #4, December 2012 By Khadija Sharife, researcher with the Center for Civil Society (CCS- UKZN), South Africa When UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christina Figueres described Durban’s Bisasar methane-to-gas electricity project as one of the world’s top ten green energy projects, the Durban Municipality breathed a sigh of relief. After all, not so long …
Read more “The Bisasar Road landfill project: an environmental hazard (Watch This! #4)”
See Watch This! #4, December 2012 By the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) and the Mexican Environmental Law Center (CEMDA) The Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) is a nonprofit environmental law organization that works across international borders to defend threatened ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. Its mission is to strengthen …
See Watch This! #4, December 2012 Agricultural carbon markets – selling out food security? By Teresa Anderson, International Advocacy Co-ordinator for the Gaia Foundation At COP18 in Doha, carbon markets continued their inexorable spread into every arena of climate work, including agriculture. With heavily politicised debates over emissions reductions, loopholes and carbon markets in almost …
Read more “NGO Voices on carbon markets at COP18 (Watch This! #4)”
See Watch This! #4, December 2012 By Anika Schroeder, policy officer for climate change and development, Misereor MISEREOR is the German Catholic Bishops´ Organisation for Development Cooperation. Ever since its foundation in 1958 MISEREOR has strengthened the self-help capacity of farming communities consisting of people who are not merely passive recipients of aid, as they …
Read more “Fiddling with carbon while farmers go hungry? (Watch This! #4)”
See Watch This! #4, December 2012 By Eva Filzmoser, Director Carbon Market Watch Much to our regret, countries who met at COP18 in Doha did little to address the billion tonne gap we need to close in order to keep us safe from catastrophic climate effects. While Environmentalists and representatives of …
Read more “COP18 summary – We won a game of poker on the Titanic! (Watch This! #4)”
At COP18 in Doha, countries did little to address the billion tonne gap we need to close in order to keep us safe from catastrophic climate effects. No new mitigation pledges were made and most loopholes remain. Yet some positive decisions were made: Parties did agree that no new hot air should be created in the next Kyoto commitment period and that only a limited amount of hot air from the first commitment period can be used. Still, decisions in Doha did nothing to ensure that the world will stay below 2 degrees warming, carbon markets keep spreading and common rules are lacking. We’ll need to work together to continue building pressure for real solutions and keep fighting to avoid the worst projects and policies.
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