It’s that time of year when the Global Call for Climate Action secretariat, along with many of our partner organizations, shift gears toward the annual UNFCCC Conference of Parties.
As you probably know, Lima is hosting this year’s biggest round of climate negotiations (COP20) in Warsaw. The GCCA team created and is curating a series of tools to help you understand and interpret what’s about to happen inside the negotiating halls and what it might mean to the wider world. To that end, this edition of the Fresh Air Brief is atypical. What follows is background and context for COP20 as well as info on how to make the most of our tools and resources in the coming weeks.
We’ll return to our usual edition of the Fresh Air Brief after this round of climate negotiations.
Climate change is back on top of the political agenda, and governments gathering next week in Lima for the major UN climate talks of the year (COP20) have an opportunity to harness that newfound momentum. Their most pressing task is to make significant headway on an effective new, universal climate change agreement - set to be finalized in Paris at the end of next year - while also raising immediate ambition to act on climate change in advance of the agreement coming into effect. Both efforts need to accelerate the on-going transition from dirty fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres may have said it best, “What happens during the year leading up to the Paris agreement is going to do more to determine the quality of life of generations to come than anything else.
Laying a solid foundation for a new 2015 climate treaty
Governments need to use Lima to lay the foundation for a Paris agreement. It’s strength will be determined by individual climate action commitments (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions – INDCs), which every country is due to submit early next year. They will need to define exactly what each country’s commitment should contain, how long they should last, how they can be bolstered and how they should be presented.
In addition to INDCs and the wider scope of ongoing work toward a 2015 deal, scaling up climate action in the near-term will be a major focus. More countries need to ratify an agreed extension of the Kyoto Protocol before it can take effect; governments could launch a new intense round of workshops to help them understand and adopt best-practice policies for near-term emissions cuts; there’s also work on a “Lima Action Agenda” to maintain and accelerate cooperation on climate issues by all actors, building on climate action pledges made at the UN Climate Summit in New York earlier this year.
COP20 is also an opportunity for governments to add crucial support to the Green Climate Fund, which is expected to serve as the primary vehicle for climate finance in coming years. With almost US $9.6 billion in pledges to-date, the fund is off to a good start; but governments committed to raising $100 billion annually by 2020. They’re under pressure to get closer to that goal in Lima, and to offer clarity on how climate finance will scale up to $100 billion in the years to come.
If you want to get geeky, check out the ‘non-paper’ on the elements for the 2015 agreement and the draft Lima decision, which captures a lot of the ideas on near-term climate action and process for agreeing a 2015 deal.
New-found momentum
Politically, COP20 comes after a string of momentous occasions for the climate movement. In just the last three months, hundreds of thousands of individuals from New York to Mumbai took part in the People’s Climate Mobilization, where demand for governments to take climate action reached historic levels. Governments signed off on the latest scientific findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, calling for countries to rapidly phase-out fossil fuels in order to avoid destabilizing their economies with increasingly severe and costly climate disasters. The EU moved to increase its climate action, agreeing to a package of new climate and energy goals. And the world’s two biggest emitters, China and the US, penned a climate agreement committing both countries to unprecedented new steps.
With this momentum in the rear-view mirror and Paris now just a year away, the stakes and expectations for COP20 in Lima are high. Read more about all of this in our COP20 Briefer.
Tree Alerts
Our Tree Alerts team published a comprehensive (and accessible for non- experts) overview of COP20 on Wednesday. In addition to a summary and key points, the Alert will include: links to some of the best pre -COP20 analysis & media coverage; a round up of press statements & quotes from our partners; a library of images, infographics and videos; related actions and campaigns; detailed background information and more.
The Tree Alerts team will be on standby throughout the COP, ready to churn out detailed alerts on key issues as they come up.
Live blog / embeddable Storify
Tierney Smith (from our Tree Alerts team) and I will curate a storify live blog throughout the COP, bringing together the latest news, photos, videos, and tweets as well as links to relevant articles and blogs.
You can see the blog at tcktcktck.org/COP20, or embed it on your own site using the following embed code:
<div class=”storify”><iframe src=”//storify.com/tcktcktck/live/embed” width=”100%” height=”750″ frameborder=”no” allowtransparency=”true”></iframe><script src=”//storify.com/tcktcktck/live.js”></script><noscript>[<a href=”//storify.com/tcktcktck/live” target=”_blank”>View the story “Live: The UN climate talks in Lima” on Storify</a>]</noscript></div>
If you’d like us to consider including your content in our live blog, get in touch with Tierney: [email protected].
Daily email round ups
If you prefer a daily summary over being glued to a liveblog, you can subscribe to our Daily Tck. At the end of each day, we’ll send a summary that includes a concise and comprehensive round up of the talks as well as the latest tools, resources, and links from our partners and allies.
Country- level tracking from the Adopt a Negotiator project
The GCCA is supporting a number climate trackers who will attend COP20 and publicly track the roles their governments play. In addition to closely following the climate change negotiations from the inside and writing about it at adoptanegotiator.org, they are working with journalists, blogs, and mainstream media outlets around the world to cut through the negotiation’s abstruse acronyms and diplomatic abstraction, get to the heart of the most pressing climate issues, and share in ways that people can relate to.
While our Fellows will be busy, they’re eager to collaborate with bloggers and journalists around the world. If you’re interested, email [email protected] to get in touch or find them on twitter.
Support in connecting you with our partners inside
If you’re creating COP20- related content and need help connecting with an expert on the inside, we may be able to help. Email [email protected] or myself ([email protected]) with your requests, and our team will see what we can do.
Off- site convergence / work space in Lima
Building on the legacy of our ‘Fresh Air Blogger Lounge;’ the GCCA partnered with our TierrActiva to open a civil society space. Like our digs in Warsaw last year, this is wider in scope than pure communications. The Casa de Convergencia TierrActiva or TierrActiva Convergence Space is a open to local, regional and international groups as well as individuals working towards climate justice to meet, learn from each other, work together and plan actions in the context of COP20 and the Cumbre de los Pueblos or People’s Summit. It has the essentials for bloggers - outlets and free wifi - as well.
Casa de Convergencia TierrActiva is located at:
Calle Nicolas de Aranibar 510 - Santa Beatriz (Alt. 9 de Arequipa)
For more information, please contact [email protected].
For an overview of GCCA services during the COP, including links to sign up for our COP20 insiders google group, check out tcktcktck.org/cop20.
The main draw during any round of UN Climate Talks is usually the negotiations themselves. Officially, they’ll kick off on Monday, 1 December, and you can watch the show (via live stream) here. The negotiations also anchor an increasing number of parallel events and conferences, taking advantage of the rare concentration of topic experts and decision makers. Below is a list of a few of the events taking place during COP20, which you might find of interest.
- 1 DEC – Fast for the Climate – During the first day of COP20, people from all walks of life are fasting to stand in solidarity with vulnerable communities most affected by dangerous climate impacts. The #FastForTheClimate team hopes to may 1 December the biggest environmental fast day there is. Join the thunderclap: http://thndr.it/1C24An1
- 2 DEC – The WMO to issue statement on the status of the global climate in 2014 – On the second day of COP 20 the World Meteorological Organization plans to issue the provisional statement on the status of the global climate.
- 5 DEC – BINGO Day at COP 20 – The Business and Industry (BINGO) Day will be organized by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The event will serve to present the activities and messages of business and industry organizations concerned about the potential impacts and opportunities presented by the negotiations.
- 5-6 DEC - International Rights of Nature Ethics Tribunal – This tribunal will adjudicate various cases linked to COP20 proceedings, including threats to the Great Barrier Reef and oil and mineral extraction in Latin America. The Tribunal is a model and potent tool to help communities working to defend the Earth and their health and heritage.
- 6 DEC – 2014 Climate and Health Summit – As the international community works toward a post-2020 agreement on climate action, human health considerations need to be central to these discussions. The Summit is an occasion to showcase successes and clarify the role which health can play in responding to climate change. Find more information here. Register here. Join the thunderclap: thndr.it/1x8BtaG. Hashtags to use: #ClimateHealth2014 #COP20 #health #ActOnClimate
- 6 DEC - Law, Governance and Climate Change: An International Law and Policy Workshop – The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) is organizing a workshop to consider how international law and governance can better respond to climate change, what universal human rights can contribute to legal responses to climate change, how climate laws could promote respect for human rights, and how innovative legal instruments can deliver more sustainable landscapes and energy.
- 6 DEC – 12th Development and Climate Days - The slogan of the event, ‘Zero poverty. Zero emissions. Within a generation’ draws attention to the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation and increased resilience in order to eradicate poverty.
- 6-7 DEC – Global Landscapes Forum – The second GLF will focus on integrating the landscape approach into the post-2015 climate and development agendas. Themes will include food, water and energy; climate change; the green economy; and sustainable development.
- 8-11 Dec – The People’s Summit – As the COP 20 meetings take place in Lima, so to will a parallel event known as the People’s Summit which is an alternative forum that demands that climatic justice should be reflected in international and national policies. The objectives of this three day event are to analyze and promote a political proposal for dealing with climate change in each country and each continent, to carry out advocacy to ensure that the new Climatic Agreement (to be signed in Paris in 2015), incorporates real solutions to the people’s demands for climate justice and to raise awareness of and join together alternative grassroots experiences for dealing with the causes and effects of climate change. Learn more here.
- 7 DEC –Seminar on Food and Nutrition Security, Agriculture and Climate Change – On the sidelines of December’s UN climate talks in Lima (COP20), CARE International, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) will host a seminar to raise awareness about and discuss approaches to help address climate change challenges to food and nutrition security.
- 7 DEC – Third Forest Legislation Summit -The Global Legislators Organisation (GLOBE International) is organizing this summit where legislators from over 20 countries are expected to participate events on climate legislation, natural capital and the progress achieved in 2014.
- 7 DEC – Transport Day 2014 – Transport Day aims to encourage the integration of transport into mitigation and adaptation policy making under the UNFCCC, ensure such and tools and resources as Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), the Green Climate Fund (GCF), measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, and technology transfer are appropriate for the transport sector.
- 8 DEC – South-South Cooperation on Climate Change Forum – This forum aims to contribute to a successful post-2015 climate agreement by promoting South-South Cooperation as an integral part of global action against climate change.
- 8 DEC – Women Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change – The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) will use this free and opened event at the Sheraton Hotel Lima, Avenida Paseo de la Republica 170. Libertadores Room from 13:00 to 17:00 event in Lima to focus on extractive industries and mega-dams, forest protection and territory rights, renewable energy alternatives, new economic frameworks, rights of nature, systemic change, and how relationships between women of the Global South & North are furthering the climate justice movement.
- 8-9 DEC – Caring for Climate Forum – The world’s largest voluntary business and climate initiative hosted by UN´s organizations will provide a multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue and action among business, investors, civil society, the UN and Government officials along side the COP20.
- 9 DEC – WECAN International formal UN side event at COP20 – In collaboration with allies at Amazon Watch and TakingItGlobal. WECAN will present the Women’s Climate Action Agenda as a blueprint for our path forward and showcase examples of youth and women as agents of local and global change.
- 9 DEC – Universal Access to Energy and Climate Change Seminar – ACCIONA , the world’s largest utility solely focused on renewable energy, will be holding a one-day seminar at the Spanish Cultural Centre in Lima. ACCIONA’s Microenergy Foundation will be showcasing the results of a five-year programme that is delivering sustainable, zero-emissions electricity, through the installation of solar home kits, to some 4,000 households in Peru’s poorest and most remote regions.
- 10 Dec - Word Climate Summit - This summit is dedicated to accelerating solutions to climate change by facilitating large-scale collaboration between businesses, financiers, philanthropists and governments on regional, national and global actions. Status quo is not an options.
- 11 DEC “Linkage among Climate Policies in the 2015 Paris Agreement” - an event presented by Harvard University from 11:30 Am to 1PM that focuses on how the new international agreement to be concluded in Paris, in December 2015 at COP-21, might either facilitate or impede linkage—not only among cap-and-trade systems, but among cap-and-trade, carbon tax, and non-market regulatory systems.
We’re eager to learn how to make this as useful as possible, so all feedback is welcome. We’re also eager to receive suggestions for leads, content and opportunities you’d like to promote. Get in touch.
If you haven’t already, apply to join our Fresh Air Network. You can also check out archived versions, here.
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