Posted on 12 December
2009 - Putting in the numbers is where we
can bridge the divide between the ambitions
governments have shown so far and what we
really need to do to stay
out of the climate catastrophe zone.
Copenhagen, Denmark – Negotiators at the
UN climate summit have delivered a framework
that can be developed to ensure a fair,
ambitious and binding Copenhagen climate
deal, WWF said yesterday.
“It is the job of the
ministers now arriving to fill in the numbers
against both the cuts in emissions and the
money to make the deal possible,” said Kim
Carstensen, leader of WWF’s global climate
initiative.
“Putting in the numbers
is where we can bridge the divide between
the ambitions governments have shown so
far and what we really need to do to stay
out of the climate catastrophe zone.”
WWF warned that texts
presented by the chairmen of the negotiating
group don’t answer questions on the legal
format of the future agreement.
“Adding ambitious numbers
to the framework texts and purging the remaining
loopholes that could undermine the integrity
of the deal is important”, said Carstensen,“but
to make it a reliable and watertight, we
also need to have it legally binding.”
Carstensen said ministers
and later heads of state would be able to
address issues that negotiators had little
freedom to move on.
“If we can bridge the
divide between what the developed nations
are prepared to do and what the emerging
and developing world want to see happen,
we will have a Copenhagen climate deal,”
Carstensen did. “Clearly there has to be
action on all sides for the greater global
outcome.
“For the wealthy world,
the science and the equity arguments all
point to increased cuts in emissions and
more money on the table for those who have
contributed little to the problem of climate
change but will suffer the most of the consequences.”
“From the emerging economies
we welcome the commitments made, but we
need their efforts to be included in and
measured as part of the global effort.”
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“Don’t get distracted,”
WWF urges ministers
Posted on 14 December
2009 - Copenhagen, Denmark – Ministers arriving
for the high level segment of the UN climate
summit in Copenhagen are being urged to
not get distracted from a goal of preserving
the world from climate catastrophe.
WWF called on ministers
to adopt a shared vision where the rise
in average global temperature rise was limited
to below two degrees and stabilises at 1.5
degrees.
“To minimize the risk
of overshooting two degrees, WWF believes
any measures decided at this conference
should be subjected to a science review
finishing no later than 2015,” said Kim
Carstensen, leader of WWF’s global climate
initiative.
“This review, to see
if what we are doing matches what we need
to do, needs to be part of the agreement.”
In WWF’s view, the Copenhagen outcome should
be legally binding on parties and consist
of a an amended Kyoto Protocol with new
and adequate emissions reductions targets
for developed countries, and a new, linked
Copenhagen Protocol establishing the international
legal framework around climate action in
the US and in developing countries.
“Any agreement on funding
needs to deal not only with fast start funding,
but must also specify how the immediate
funding can be used to create the capacity
and the institutions needed to be able to
handle rapidly growing levels of funding
in coming years.
“The agreement should
also detail new sources of funding such
as levies on international aviation and
shipping and auctioning of carbon pollution
permits, and it should make clear how and
through what institutions the money should
be distributed.”
WWF believes that there
is a need to establish an international
methodology to track emission reductions
both in developed and developing countries.
“Parties must clearly
state what their real reductions are, and
the data must be clear and transparent and
must follow agreed international standards”
Carstensen said. “The overall objective
must be to lay the basis for an outcome
that will put the world on track to a less
than two degree future.”
