Daily Tck: Day eight of the UN climate talks in Bonn
- Negotiations go farther into substance, addressing political questions and the potential structure of a new global climate agreement
- Saudi Arabia blocks efforts for a safer long-term temperature target by countries vulnerable to climate change
- G7 media coverage, globally, focuses on decarbonization
Negotiators weighed deeper into substance Tuesday, fuelled by the hope of delivering significantly trimmed and more manageable draft Paris agreement text by week’s end. They shared views on political questions and the potential structure of the new agreement.
The day’s most contentious issue was what to do with the results of a two-year science-based review, completed earlier this year, which basically says government agreements on the 2ºC temperature guardrail is not ambitious enough to protect people and the planet from significant harm. Many of the countries most vulnerable to climate change have long-advocated for a 1.5ºC limit, and have proposed a process to build on the review’s results with additional research and consideration. However, such negotiations on how to move forward have been blocked by Saudi Arabia, with support from India and China.
While some governments will undoubtedly persist in attempts to slow multilateral agreement on increasing climate action, global coverage of the G7’s outcome tell us that the world is ready to decarbonize. The Globe & Mail, Financial Times and Der Spiegel were among scores of major media outlets running something akin to ‘G7 leaders bid ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to carbon fuels’on their front page.
News, links & useful grist that caught our eye
New analysis of Japan’s draft climate action plan for the Paris agreement was released by the Climate Action Tracker. Japan can almost reach its proposed, and wholly “inadequate,” targetwithout taking any further action. In the wake of the G7 decisions to decarbonize their economies, Japan appears to be heading in the opposite direction.
The President of Vanuatu joined climate-impacted communities from Tuvalu, Kiribati, Fiji and the Solomon Islands as well as representatives from the Philippines vowing to seek ‘Climate Justice’ and hold big fossil fuel entities accountable for fuelling global climate change. The world’s leadingfossil fuel companies could be taken to court for damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions under plans released by Vanuatu on Tuesday.
We also received new details on a planned agreement between the EU and China. The pact, to be signed June 29, will promote closer ties in using low-emission technologies and developing carbon markets and sustainable cities, said the people, who asked not to be identified because talks remain under way. The EU-China summit on the 29th will touch upon the issue of climate change, Elina Bardram, the bloc’s chief negotiator, said June 5 in Bonn.
On Monday, former Philippines’ climate change commissioner Naderev “Yeb” Saño also kicked off a six-month journey around the world to places hit hard by climate change, beginning in the Pacific island state of Vanuatu, still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by Cyclone Pam in March. The “People’s Pilgrimage” will highlight the effects of climate change and the upcoming climate-focused papal encyclical with the aim of invigorating political for climate action.
Resources
Find the Climate Action Network International’s Saturday edition of the ECO Newsletter here.
IISD’s reporting service has high-resolution pictures from Tuesday inside the World Conference Center, and more to come throughout the next two weeks. They also have a detailed overview of Friday’s negotiations.
Useful hashtags for tracking the negotiations in real-time are #SB42, #ADP2015, and #UNFCCC. We’ll join the conversation on twitter via @tcktcktck and@adoptnegotiator.
In addition to our Daily Tck (which is also available in Spanish), we’ll keep you abreast of developments in the wider world of climate activism and action at tcktcktck.org and publish related communications briefs at treealerts.org.
