Day 2 Policy Updates: Welcome to COP

by Bogdan Zymka and Lara Shirley Since these were the first two days of COP19, not much exciting has happened: only a couple contentious discussions in various forums. In the COP (Conference of the Parties), the G77+China strongly emphasized the need for a finance roadmap and strong mitigation targets calling it "an implementation COP". Definite finance targets are on track to become a key...

Expelled from the United Nations: How the Executive Secretary Reacts to Solidarity with the Phillippines

By Maria Alejandra Escalante and Graham Thurston Hallett Before anything please watch this moving testament by Yeb Sano, head of the delegation of the Philippines. Four hours in, day one, COP19: Poland. Half a planet away, while the other half perishes with 20 years of inaction. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is tasked with saving the planet from anthropogenic...

First day, first actions, first signs of hope

by Lucas Burdick                 This is a late post, and very much a developing story. “Climate change means we face a future where super typhoons will no longer be one-in-one hundred year events…” said head negotiator for the Philippines, Yeb Sano, at the opening plenary of the COP. You could hear the tiredness in his voice and as he spent much of...

LOSS AND DAMAGE MUST BE ADDRESSED NOW: WE DEMAND A STRONG MECHANISM

by Katie O’Brien & Maria Alejandra Escalante  What is Loss and Damage? In the climate negotiations, the focus is often on mitigation and adaptation, but these two alone cannot fully address the impacts of climate change. Some climate change impacts have already been locked in from historical emissions and many countries do not have the capacity to adapt to the oncoming effects, especially...

COP19 Warsaw: The Big Fights, Red Lines and Initial Predictions

by Anna Odell and Maria Alejandra Escalante Thousands gather in Warsaw as typhoon Yolanda (internationally named typhoon Haiyan) ravages the Philippines, leaving up to 10,000 people dead, hundreds of thousands of people displaced, and destroying entire communities and towns. This catastrophe, the largest typhoon in recorded history, cannot go unacknowledged, and those parties responsible for...