From Crevice to Chasm

By Julian Velez Developed countries are trying to undermine the relevance of the Bali Road Map as a whole, as well as the Durban Package laid out last year. These include a 2nd commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (KP), and comparable mitigation actions by developed countries for non-KP parties under the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) and Nationally Appropriate...

Twisted logic: no money for adaptation unless the rich can emit more, and profit from it.

by nathan thanki The old axiom “adapt or die” is haunting the halls of the UNFCCC in Doha. As has been made clear over the years of apathy and inaction, the industrialised world will do everything it can to avoid making serious emissions reductions. The resulting 0.8 degree celsius warming, and certainty of a further 0.8 degrees, mean that those who are particularly vulnerable are...

Standing Committee and Long-Term Finance under UNFCCC

by Bogdan Zymka Finance is a crucial aspect of making the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change an effective regime. The finance system under the UNFCCC is extremely complex. The beginning of the financial mechanism was established under Article 11 of the convention: “A mechanism for the provision of financial resources on a grant or concessional basis, including for the...

Financing Adaptation: Who Will Pay?

by Nathan Thanki and Graham Reeder Given that we’re now experiencing another summer of bizarre weather events, including deadly heat waves, wildfires, and storms in the US, and increased chances of another El Nino year, many in the US are finally opening their eyes to what scientists have been telling them for years: climate change is real, but not only that, it is happening now. Climate...

The dreadful details: a blow by blow account of how COP17 ended

by nathan thanki A week later and everyone has returned to their respective homes, readying themselves for the festive season. The mainstream media has been content with the narrative of 'it was close but we saved the regime, and eventually we'll save the world' and has moved on to supposedly bigger concerns such as the Eurozone crisis, and what the best recipe for preparing the Christmas turkey...