Pope Francis cautions against “carbon credits” as a quick and easy solution to avoid radical change and maintain excessive consumption of some countries and sectors. He is right, in that carbon offsetting and trading will not do the trick to keep us from using up the remaining global carbon budget. Ambition and global willingness to reduce our carbon impact remain the absolute priorities in this century of survival.
A leaked European Commission document suggests that pollution subsidies to industry under the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme will increase to around €150 billion after 2020. The subsidy is under consideration because some industry sectors claim that the EU’s carbon market puts them at a competitive disadvantage, when in fact carbon pricing has been successfully introduced in many other regions as well. The proposal to shield industry from Europe’s main climate instrument sends the wrong signal ahead of the climate summit in Paris in December where countries are expected to sign a global climate agreement applying to all sectors and regions.
Barro Blanco – a CDM approved hydro dam in Panama – has entered in its most critical phase, following back pedaling from the government of Panama and threats by European lenders. Indigenous people set a deadline for the project to be cancelled.
Currently, parties to the UNFCCC are meeting in Bonn for a new round of climate negotiations. One of the topics that is on the table is the review of the Modalities and Procedures of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Parties are thereby discussing rather “light” issues and shy away from more conflicting topics. But, when turning a blind eye on the necessity for more controversial themes, such as the establishment of a grievance mechanism, the review of the Modalities and Procedures may fall behind its great potential to improve the CDM for the future.
With another round of UN climate talks underway in Bonn, uncertainty remains over the role that carbon markets will play in the Paris Protocol and accompanying decisions.
Carbon Market Watch will be closely following the UNFCCC negotiations from Bonn, Germany. The Bonn UNFCCC session kicks off real negotiations on the text agreed in Geneva in February. Those elements of the text that are agreed by Parties will become parts of the Paris Protocol, which should be completed in December this year. The …
The Dutch and German development banks, FMO and DEG, each invested 25 US$ million in the Barro Blanco hydropower project in Panama. In May 2014, the Movimiento 10 de Abril (M-10), representing indigenous peoples directly affected by the project, with the support of Both ENDS and SOMO, filed the first complaint to the Independent Complaints …
MONDAY, 1 JUN 2015, 16:45—18:15 KAMINZIMMER (113), WORLD CONFERENCE CENTER BONN
The need for safeguards and accountability mechanisms is widely recognised in international financial institutions (IFIs). This event will discuss how lessons from IFIs can inform the design and operation of appropriate redress mechanisms for the GCF and other private and public climate finance flows.
As the financial and market mechanisms established under the UNFCCC struggle to implement policies aimed at the protection and promotion of human rights, these institutions might benefit from learning how other global financial mechanisms are dealing with this issue, such as the Global Fund’s new Human Rights Complaints Procedure.
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