COP19 – Day Three

On Wednesday, over fifty people are fasting in solidarity with the Philippines lead negotiator Yeb Saño. The movement does not appear to be dissipating, but will it lead to a substantial outcome in Warsaw? Civil society and developing countries certainly hope so, but time will tell. Here’s what else is going on.

Australia bashing seems to be everyone’s favourite pass time. Climate Action Network Australia’s Julie-Anne Richards launched a scathing attack on Australia’s actions both at COP and at home. “I am an Australian. Which is quite an admission in these halls,” Richards said. Whilst Australian non-government groups keep pushing their government to be more ambitious at the Warsaw talks, it does not seem to be budging the Australian position. Will they continue pushing for the next two weeks or lose hope? The mood certainly seems to be one of despondency.

The convention plenary convened in the morning discussing long-term finance and the Green Climate Fund. The G77+China emphasised that the Green Climate Fund must be accountable to and guided by the COP. The United States want finance discussed during the high-level ministerial dialogue next week, and developing nations would prefer to address the easier agenda items before moving on to the difficult ones. Defining what’s difficult and easy on finance issues is a whole agenda item in of itself.

In the afternoon, the CMP convened where annual reports from various bodies under the Kyoto Protocol were introduced. It was evident that there was a high demand for carbon credits. The African Group attributed this to low ambition, and called for reform to the flexible mechanisms.

The secretariat also explained that the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol – the establishment of a second commitment period – requires 144 countries to ratify for it to enter into legal force. At present only three instruments of acceptance have been received: Barbados, Mauritius, and the United Arab Emirates. The European Union stressed its intention to ratify soon, and Norway informed parties that its parliament will consider ratification soon. China intends to ratify by the end of 2014. Only 98 per cent of the way to go.

The SBSTA plenary involved the chair reporting on the progress of his informal consultations with parties, in particular his talks on Brazil’s proposal that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change develop a reference methodology to calculate historical emissions.

Negotiations are trudging along, even though it sounds like nothing is happening. Yet, if successful in navigating the conference centre – it is possible to stumble across seemingly productive hallway meetings between delegates.

This piece has been acronym heavy, so for a run down.

– COP refers to the Conference of the Parties and is the overall body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

– CMP refers to the Conference of Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties for the Kyoto Protocol.

– SBI refers to the Subsidiary Body for Implementation: one of two bodies which assist the UNFCCC by reviewing and assessing the implementation of the convention.

– SBSTA refers to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice: this body provides advice and information on matters relating to science and technology to the Convention.

By Kahil Lloyd, photo by Laura Owsianka.