Daily Tck: Day 8 of the UN climate talks in Lima

Ban Ki Moon at the UN Climate Talks in Lima | photo credit: iisd/Kiara Worth

This Lima meeting is getting exciting! UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon helped kick off the High Level segment of the current round of UN climate talks Tuesday, laying out the key outcomes that Lima needs to deliver. In addition to getting a balanced ‘elements’ text, which will serve as the basis of a draft negotiating text for the 2015 Paris deal, and a common understanding of the scope and status of countries’ intended contributions to that deal - Ban echoed the call of many of our partners, urging governments to develop a roadmap that gets us from our current levels of climate finance to the pledged $100 billion in annual climate finance by 2020. He also scheduled a second climate leaders summit for late June to build momentum ahead of Paris.

A number of Heads of State and Ministers followed the UN Secretary General, laying out their own priorities for Lima; many of which fed into the afternoon’s Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance. In a surprise move, Australia ceded to international pressure, pledging AUS 200 million to the Green Climate Fund. Combined with a pledge by Belgium and (a tiny pledge by) Lichtenstein, Tuesday’s announcements pushed the Green Climate Fund beyond its minimum Lima goal of US $10 billion. Germany pledged $60 million toward the Adaptation Fund’s $80 million Lima goal. And China unveiled a new south-south fund, suggesting it would dispense $80 million in climate finance to other developing countries over the next 3 years. The increase in funds is progress, but the pledges currently on the table only amount to $2.5 billion/yr over the next four years - paling in comparison to what’s needed.

Meanwhile, governments continued their work on the draft texts. Line-by-line negotiations on the ‘decision text’ - that will define the scope of countries’ national contributions and determine the ambition level of plans to boost pre-2020 climate action - only got through paragraph 12 of 36.

From our partners

Tuesday’s opening Ministerial meetings also corresponded with Gender Day in Lima. With pushback on the mention of gender equality in drafts of the key political texts at various points over the last week, high-level attention on the issue couldn’t come at a better time.

To mark Gender Day, CARE launched a new report on tackling the double injustice of climate change and gender inequality. WECAN hosted an event highlighting the impacts climate change is wreaking on indigenous women of the Amazon. The Democracy Center in Bolivia published a photo-documentary on climate resilient women. And there were a series of other press conferences of high-level events digging into the topic. According to A. Tianna Scozzaro from the Global Gender and Climate Alliance:

“It is tremendously exciting to see the momentum around Gender Day. This is not just about women’s rights, it is about human rights. In order for us to truly achieve a sustainable future, women must be at the center of the decision-making. Women from around the world gathered in Lima today to call for gender equality and women’s human rights. Let’s hope the parties heard our call for a just, equitable and healthy planet.”

Young people from around the world hosted a teach-in based on their observations in the negotiations over the past week. Participants evaluated whether the actions of the negotiators were “passing” or “failing” the #ClimateTest.

350.org kept up the momentum of yesterday’s actions protesting the influence of fossil fuel companies in the UN climate talks, launching a petition to kick polluters out. If you agree that it’s time to kick fossil fuel lobbyists out of the climate talks, add your name here — they’ll deliver your message to negotiators in Lima this week.

The French President’s climate advisor Nicolas Hulot will join the Climate Group for a live Twitter Q&A on December 10, about the importance of this week’s COP20 ahead of global climate talks in Paris next year.

Outside the talks, a number of our partners and allies spent Tuesday preparing for what many expect will be Latin America’s largest ever climate march. The GCCA partnered with TierrActiva to host a civil society convergence space throughout COP20 - if Tuesday’s activities there are at all indicative of what to expect, Wednesday’s March will be inspiring and powerful.

A new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI) on equity and finance says by focusing on the capabilities of countries and communities, there can be progress on the equity concerns that have impeded climate negotiations for decades.

And Oil Change International responded to ExxonMobil’s Outlook for Energy, which predicts that oil and gas use will expand throughout the period to 2040, and oil will remain the world’s largest fuel source. In new analysis, Oil Change International finds that ExxonMobil’s outlook is not a forecast; it’s actually the company’s fantasy. This became clear as they looked deeper into the numbers.

In the news

The Sydney Morning Herald dubbed the relationship between Canada and Australia’s prime ministers a ‘climate bromance, united by inaction’ a shared interest in opposing climate-change policies that might hold back growth in their respective fossil fuel industries.

India’s Economic Times dig into the EU stance that scope of countries’ contributions to a 2015 deal should be limited to emissions cuts, leaving off essential issues like finance and adaptation.

World Bank head Jim Kim joined the growing momentum behind drive to ensure 2015 climate deal will wipe out fossil fuel use.

Tools and resources

Our Tree Alert has more on how the Abbott government raided its recently-gutted foreign aid budget to make the Green Climate Fund pledge.

The latest ECO newsletter looks ahead to Tuesday’s finance ministerial and the need for a global goal on adaptation.

The latest ENB newsletter offers a breakdown of the negotiations as the next text is put on the table. Its photo-blog also gives a visual look at day seven of the talks.

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