Posted on 26 September
2009 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA – Heads
of the world’s 20 largest economies signalled
they may be ready to act on perverse
subsidies for fossil fuel use, but yet again
ducked any firm decisions on the crucual
climate financing issue.
The Pittsburgh G20 meeting,
following immediately on from a UN Climate
Summit in New York, instead directed finance
ministers to continue their considerations
of financing climate change mitigation and
adaptation in the developing world.
“In spite of the disappointing
result of G20 on climate finance, we are
still optimistic about the overall impression
of this week’s high-level climate discussions
in the US,” said Kim Carstensen, leader
of WWF’s global climate initiative..
“Some doors were opened
as we saw important political signals from
both developed and developing nations, but
time is running out and we need to move
quickly from rhetoric to concrete action.”
Carstensen called on
wealthy nations – the US, EU and Japan in
particular – to stop using emerging economies
as an excuse for inaction on committing
“to the right level of finance to remove
barriers in the negotiations for a global
agreement in Copenhagen.”
“They failed to do so
in Pittsburgh,” he said.
G20 Ministers are expected
to report back on a range of options for
climate financing in Scotland in November,
on the eve of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen
that needs to conclude a new global climate
deal to replace the expiring and inadequate
Kyoto protocol.
Some encouraging progress
was made on the issue of phasing out fossil
fuel subsidies, but leaders postponed decisions
on firm actions and timetables to their
next Summit. The commitment to phase out
fossil fuel subsidies has the potential
to generate hundreds of billions of dollars
for clean energy development and access
to clean energy for the poor.
“If taken seriously,
eliminating fossil fuel subsidies can be
a major opportunity to shift incentives
away from carbon pollution and towards clean
energy development both in developed and
developing countries,” said Carstensen.
Climate negotiations
commence again on Monday 28 September when
negotiators from 192 countries meet in the
Thai capital of Bangkok for the next round
of discussions under the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“We now look to negotiators
to take up the mandate from their leaders
and make real progress on the key elements
of a deal,” said Carstensen.
+ More
Philippine floods stress
the human element in Bangkok climate talks
- WWF
Posted on 27 September
2009 - Bangkok, Thailand – Extreme rainfall
causing disastrous flooding in the Philippines
should remind delegates gathering for the
United Nations climate talks in Bangkok
that their deliberations will influence
the lives and livelihoods of millions, WWF
said.
Regretting the loss
of life in the flooding which has displaced
hundreds of thousands, WWF said it was aware
that Philippines meteorogists had linked
the event to climate change, but cautioned
that drawing such links to individual extreme
weather events was difficult.
The science is clear
however that more frequent and more severe
extreme weather events are already and will
be an increasing consequence of climate
change. This will include more extreme rainfall
events similar to the record rainfall brought
by tropical storm Ondoy to the Manila area
and to flooding from record rains that devastated
Istanbul and other areas of Turkey a fortnight
ago.
"Ondoy taught Manila
a painful and very expensive lesson,"
wrote WWF-Phillipines Chief Executive Officer
Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan. "With climate
change, no one is ever exempt. Its impacts
are dynamic and non-linear. Coastal zones
and flood prone areas along river banks
and lake shores will of course get hit.
But less vulnerable areas and sectors are
affected as well, because the impacts of
an extreme weather event spill over into
transportation, infrastructure, power, telecommunications,
health, food security, water - all leading
to internal displacement and marginalization
of hundreds, even thousands, of people."
“The Philippine floods
should remind politicians and delegates
negotiating the climate treaty that they
are not just talking about paragraphs, amendments
and dollars but about the lives of millions
of people and the future of this planet,”
said Kim Carstensen, Leader of the WWF Global
Climate Initiative.
“After months of haggling,
losing time and arguing we have now entered
the last phase and have an absolutely last
minute chance to rescue the climate deal.”
The UN Climate Summit
of heads of state in New York last week
has given negotiators a mandate to turn
the 170-page draft into an agreeable treaty.
This is urgently needed to ensure the survival
of vulnerable nations at risk from climate
change.
According to WWF in
order to prevent failure in Copenhagen and
future climate disasters, negotiators in
Bangkok should aim at cutting the UN draft
texts by 40% by the middle of the conference
and by 85% by the end of the two-week talks.
The main tasks are in
the hands of rich countries which need to
come up with ambitious reduction targets
as well as finance commitments which will
help developing countries to adapt to climate
change
“Delegates are equipped
with a clear mandate to edit at record speed
and accelerate the drafting process”, said
Carstensen. “Maybe big targets and big money
will only be agreed in Copenhagen, but that
can’t be an excuse for wasting time, at
least the crucial groundwork must be laid
here. We need clarity on what the key elements
are for a Copenhagen climate deal.
WWF is worried about
a mismatch between credible leadership in
Asia and empty rhetoric in Europe and the
United States. While key Asian countries
are offering concrete contributions to reach
a deal in December, EU and US are emerging
as major stumbling blocks.
WWF applauds Japan,
China and India for outlining concrete mitigation
action and for playing an increasingly constructive
role in the negotiations, confirming their
determination to become the world’s next
economic leaders on the basis of a green
economy and low carbon growth.
“Pledges such as Japan’s
to reduce emissions 25% from 11000 levels
by 2020 and that of Indonesia to keep emission
growth 26% to 41% below business as usual
projections by 2020 are bringing us closer
to the global emission reduction targets
we need”, said Carstensen.
Both developed and developing
Asia are finding their way to the top in
the world league of climate action. Now
industrialized countries and in particular
the US has to follow Asia’s example, and
after missed opportunities in New York and
Pittsburgh the talks in Bangkok present
the next chance to step up.
