climate

COP 21 State of Play – Day 2

Each day, Fred Heutte, lead volunteer for the Sierra Club’s Federal and International Climate Campaign, is providing updates about the day’s events at COP21, the Paris Climate Conference.  I will reprint these in this blog with his permission.

Fred Heutte

Fred Heutte

TUESDAY, DEC. 1 — Today was mostly a day for opening plenaries and informal (non-public) ADP spin-off groups, and there is little of substance to report yet (but a huge amount of rumors), so it’s a good time to review the basic meeting structure of the UNFCCC.

Conference Structure

This year’s UN climate conference actually consists of five overlapping meetings. As of Tuesday, all five are now up and running for COP 21. To give their acronyms: COP, SBI, SBSTA, CMP and ADP.

At the top is the COP — the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Under the COP are two permanent advisory bodies — the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). The SBs meet twice a year, in June and alongside the annual COP.

Columns with flags for each country at the entrance to the Paris climate conference.

Columns with flags for each country at the entrance to the Paris climate conference.

The SBI and SBSTA do a fair amount of routine work taking in updates and issuing reports, but they also play a wide variety of roles assisting the COP. The SBI, for example, sets meeting dates, manages elections for chairs and other positions for all the bodies, national greenhouse gas emissions inventory reports, and various technical reviews.

Among the things on the SBSTA’s agenda are oversight of the Nairobi Work Programme on adaptation, the Technology Mechanism, issues related to agriculture, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, and so on and so on.

Going forward after the Paris Agreement is concluded, the SBI and SBSTA will actually become more prominent and important because they will also advise what is provisionally being called the CMA, the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.

The Kyoto Protocol, which continues until 2020, is overseen by the Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of the Parties, usually called CMP (formerly COP-MOP).

And the temporary group set up at COP 17 in December 2011 to develop and negotiate the Paris Agreement and associated decisions is the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, always called the ADP. This group will probably go out of existence on Saturday, when it hands off the Paris Agreement and decision texts to the COP.

Information on all these bodies and their agendas can be found at http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Meeting Structure

Each of the five bodies — the COP and the SBI, SBSTA, CMP and ADP — have a formal decision-making body that meets in a Plenary. Those meetings are totally open to Parties, observers and media and are broadcast on the web. The webcasts can be watched (and a few hours after the fact, replayed) at http://unfccc.int/meetings/paris_nov_2015/meeting/8926/php/view/webcasts.php

The formal requirements for conducting business in Plenaries means that negotiating bodies like the ADP often create a Contact Group for much of their work. Contact Groups are still usually open to Parties and observers (but not, by tradition, to media), and not on the web. Today, for example, the ADP Contact Group reconvened and is guiding the remaining negotiations for the ADP this week. This is where reports from the spinoff (or Spin-Off) groups come back and countries debate the broad issues for the Paris Agreement.

Below the Contact Group can be a variety of even more temporary and specialized groups. Lately the term has been Spin-Off Group or SOG. These usually have a fairly narrow scope such as the Spin-Off Group on Capacity Building. Their job is supposed to be considering the options in the text and “finding points of convergence” and “landing zones.” But in practice, while they help clarify country positions on many issues, they haven’t proven very good at narrowing the options.

So — starting from the bottom in the ADP this week … the Spin-Off Groups will increase understanding of the options and maybe recommend some directions. The ADP Contact Group will convene daily for “stocktaking” and then a semi-final draft will be issued by this Friday at 8 a.m. On Saturday morning the ADP Plenary is supposed to approve the final draft and forward it to the COP, which will have a plenary on Saturday afternoon and set the stage for week 2.

State of Play Dateline

[x] Sunday 29 ADP pre-plenary
[x] Monday 30 COP opening plenary – Leader Event
[x] Tuesday 1 COP/CMP joint plenary, SBI and SBSTA opening plenaries,
start of ADP contact group and spinoffs
[ ] Wednesday 2
[ ] Thursday 3
[ ] Friday 4 – revised ADP text 8 am
[ ] Saturday 5 closing ADP plenary, COP plenary
[ ] Sunday 6 [COP 21 closed]
[ ] Monday 7 High Level Segment
[ ] Tuesday 8 High Level Segment
[ ] Wednesday 9
[ ] Thursday 10
[ ] Friday 11 closing COP plenary

further info: phred@sunlightdata.com

COP 21 State of Play – Day 1

Each day, Fred Heutte, lead volunteer for the Sierra Club’s Federal and International Climate Campaign, is providing updates about the day’s events at COP21, the Paris Climate Conference.  I will reprint these in this blog with his permission.

Fred Heutte

Fred Heutte

SUNDAY, NOV. 29 — The annual UN climate conference got off to an unusual start with a Sunday evening plenary of the ADP (Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform), the body preparing the negotiating texts for the Paris Agreement.

The reason for this first-ever session ahead of the official opening of the COP on Monday was so that spinoff groups on key topics could start meeting and not lose a full day of negotiations time because of the special Leaders Event on Monday.

At the ADP plenary, outgoing COP 20 president Manuel Vidal Pulgar (environment minister, Peru) and incoming COP 21 president Laurent Fabius (foreign minister, France) both emphasized the urgency of completing preparation of the ADP’s work by the end of the week so that ministers have a workable text with a limited number of options in week 2.

Shoes of Pope Francis at Place de Republique

Shoes of Pope Francis at Place de la Republique

MONDAY, NOV. 30 — Today was the formal opening of COP 21, with a short COP plenary followed by statements from many of about 150 heads of state and government invited by the French government to give momentum to the difficult two weeks of talks ahead of us.

President Obama emphasized the progress being made in the United States over the last several years, as well as around the world, as setting the stage for a much greater effort to address climate. He noted that many nations have contributed little to climate change but will be the first to feel its effects, and said he would meet with island nations on Tuesday. The latter part of his speech focused on the legacy that this generation must leave for future generations.

Obama touched on two more specific things — the United States is joining with 10 other countries to replenish the Least Developed Countries Fund — the U.S. share will be $51 million out of a total of $248 million. The LDCF mainly supports adaptation planning and program development. This is a continuation of a long-running program (the U.S. funding goes back to the George W. Bush administration).

He also stated the United States has “a new commitment to risk insurance initiatives,” which is a still-developing idea to provide financial support for efforts to recover from extreme events like storms and floods.

With a few evening ADP spinoff groups running but closed to observers, the talk around the halls today was about what issues need to be moved forward this week so that ministers can start to move away from longstanding deadlocks — on climate finance, on five-year cycles of review, on loss and damage (efforts to respond when mitigation and adaptation both fall short and climate impacts cause severe damage to vulnerable countries and areas), on differentiation (fair shares for the climate efforts each country makes and for the financial and technology support that developed countries like the United States should provide to assist developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable).

There were two areas where major initiatives were announced today.

The first is in clean energy, with three side-by-side announcements:

  • Mission Innovation, including 20 participating countries pledging to double public clean energy research and development investment over five years (www.mission-innovation.net).
  • The Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a coordination effort on a multibillion-dollar clean energy finance push by a global group of major investors including Bill Gates, Mukesh Ambani, Tom Steyer, Masayoshi Son and George Soros. This will also be coordinated with with Mission Innovation (www.breakthroughenergy.com)
  • The International Solar Alliance, announced by Prime Minister Modi, will be headquartered in India and already has 120 participating countries and numerous major companies involved in the solar industry.

A second important announcement came from a group of developing countries who have decided to take much quicker action on creating their own clean energy economies. The new Climate Vulnerable Forum (V20), including among others Philippines, Sudan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Honduras, Bhutan and Vietnam, which are not only calling for a global goal of 1.5 degree C temperature rise (roughly equivalent to 350 ppm), but are pledging to greatly accelerate transition of their own economies from fossil fuel dependence to clean energy, in part with mutual support as well as pushing for more assistance from developed countries.

State of Play Dateline

[x] Sunday 29 ADP pre-plenary
[x] Monday 30 COP opening plenary – Leader Event
[ ] Tuesday 1 COP/CMP joint plenary, SBI and SBSTA opening plenaries, start of ADP contact group and spinoffs
[ ] Wednesday 2
[ ] Thursday 3
[ ] Friday 4
[ ] Saturday 5 closing ADP plenary, COP plenary
[ ] Sunday 6 [COP 21 closed]
[ ] Monday 7 High Level Segment
[ ] Tuesday 8 High Level Segment
[ ] Wednesday 9
[ ] Thursday 10
[ ] Friday 11 closing COP plenary

further info: phred@sunlightdata.com

Note: This list of UNFCCC acronyms could be helpful: http://unfccc.int/essential_background/glossary/items/3666.php

Saturday, November 28 – I made it to Paris!

I made it. The flight was incredibly long, though British Airways keeps you well fed and the food is good. However, I didn’t sleep at all on the flight – I never do on flights – so I am exhausted. And worse, they lost my luggage. As much as I like Ohio State sweats, I don’t want to wear them for days on end, and I’d really like a change of underwear.

place to BI arrived at my hostel – St Christopher’s Inn, or for COP21, Place to B. They don’t officially start the COP21 event until 3pm, so I couldn’t get into the room until then. It is a typical hostel. I’m in the room with the least number of beds – four – but they are bunk beds and I am on top! I have to climb a tall ladder to get up there. This will be interesting – haven’t done that since age 12.

A world map made from moss adorns the inside of Place to B.

A world map made from moss adorns the inside of Place to B.

Inside P2B was a hub of activity this afternoon with staff trying to get ready for the conference, so I decide to go elsewhere for lunch. Just around the corner was a place billing itself as “The world’s best vegetarian Indian restaurant,” so I decided to stop there. That’s when I realized I’m not in Ohio anymore. The menu was in a mix of French and English but at least the dishes had names I recognized. I ordered mutter paneer only to find you had to order rice separately. You also have to ask for silverware and water separately. The wait people probably got tired of hearing from me.

COP1 badge 1995I did sneak in a short nap after lunch and am hoping to get to a meeting with the Citizens Voice team. Meanwhile I’ve been catching up on email. I got signed up on several email lists from Climate Action Network, an umbrella organization for climate groups all over the world. The past few days people with CAN have been sending a constant stream of emails with information about events, briefings, badges, security, and who knows what. One of them even dug up an old sticker from the very first COP in 1995!

A reception at Place to B starts at 6 p.m., but I may have to go buy some toiletries and go back to bed instead. Between my last term paper and an overnight flight, I can barely keep my eyes open. Paris is 6 hours ahead of New York – and Ohio – so it will be like going to bed at noon the next day. The Bose noise canceling headphones we got may turn out to be a crucial investment, especially for people sensitive to noise as I am.

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Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development, and Axelle Lemaire, French Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs visited Place to B.

Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development, and Axelle Lemaire, French Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs, visited Place to B.

I did get to the reception.  First was mixing and mingling, where I met the other Citizens Voice contributors.  Things were very crowded so it was hard to do much beside say hi.  Then the event started.  First was a a visit by Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development, and Axelle Lemaire, French Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs.  Then we spoke with two artists behind a project called the Bureau of Linguistical Reality.  The idea was to coin new words to capture the concepts behind climate change, which is something humans have never faced before.  Besides the fairly well-known “anthropocene” were words like “ennuipocalypse” and “gwilt.” Citizens Voice team member Jeremy Lent did interviews with both artists, now up on Youtube.