Thursday morning in Geneva saw a shift in focus with discussions on pre-2020 climate ambition come to the fore. Referred to as ‘Workstream 2’ in climate jargon, there is a sense that less attention is being paid to this stream of negotiations, especially when compared to those focused on the new global climate deal, set to conclude at the end of this year.
Crucial as it is, the Paris agreement will only impose new obligations on countries from 2020; yet science tells us that more climate measures need to be taken in the next five years as a matter of urgency. The Structured Expert Dialogue (SED) process concluded much the same in its closing meeting this week.
Yesterday this point was again driven home by developing countries, who see enhanced action in the next five years as primarily a developed country responsibility. The group of Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) highlighted that there would not be an emissions gap if developed countries had committed to reducing their emissions by 40% compared to 1990 levels before 2020. Nicaragua denounced a “lost decade” of climate action.
Countries did exchange views on what practicable steps can be taken to increase pre-2020 ambition, with a report released by WWF yesterdayoffering some new ideas.
Less progress was made on deliberations towards the Paris agreement. Countries were unsure of how to proceed now the Geneva text had been agreed ahead of schedule, and discussions on the way forward were marked by much confusion.
After much deliberation, it was eventually decided that, due to some countries’ concerns, further efforts to change or streamline the Geneva text will be postponed to the next UN climate change negotiations in June. The Africa Group have since asked for one of the intercessionals, currently scheduled for the second half of the year, to be moved to the first half before this meeting in Bonn.
This came as a disappointment to other countries who had expressed a willingness to move forward with the text, although a productive exchange of views on the appropriate length of commitment cycles was held later in the afternoon.
As the latest round of negotiations begins to wrap up in Geneva, climate action undertaken by citizens from around the world continues to ramp up. Over the course of this weekend, Global Divestment Day will see hundreds of communities in 58 countries shift financial resources out of the fossil fuel industry. As the Climate Action Network, a collection of over 800 NGOs, imparted on delegates today: “This week has seen you walking in the right direction, but the sooner you pick up the pace, the sooner you’ll catch up to the rest of us”.
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