NGOs blast 'shocking lack of urgency' at Nairobi UNFCCC talks

NGOs blast 'shocking lack of urgency' at Nairobi UNFCCC talks

Nairobi (Platts)--13Nov2006

Negotiations on post-2012 climate change action have shown a "shocking
lack of urgency," according to NGOs observing events at the UNFCCC Conference
of Parties in Nairobi, COP.
Andy Atkins, advocacy director for relief and development agency
Tearfund, likened the first week of negotiations to "being in a sinking boat
and everyone is debating when we should seriously start baling out the water.
There is a scandalous lack of urgency about these talks."
"We need a major investment of political will [during the second] week,
with more effort from nations on different sides of negotiations to reach
agreement," Atkins added.

TALKS ON POST-2012 AGREEMENTS
This year's COP is supposed to agree on a timetable for negotiations on a
post-2012 framework for reducing global emissions; the Kyoto Protocol's
Article 9 also provides for a review of the Protocol before the second
commitment period begins. Tearfund and other NGOs believe the timetable for
the review should be decided by 2008.
Greenpeace's Steve Sawyer said formal negotiations on further commitment
periods must start by 2008 and must be concluded by 2010 "at the absolute
latest," in order to give regional groupings and large countries sufficient
time to ratify the agreements, to agree burden sharing (as in the case of the
EU) and to enact the domestic policies and measures to allow that agreement to
take effect by January 1, 2013.
Sawyer said that the current meeting was being held up by disagreements
on how the Kyoto Protocol should be amended before a second commitment period
was agreed. He highlighted the need for an expansion of the flexible
mechanisms in order to drive capital towards clean energy investment, as well
as mechanisms to generate funding and resources to address the need for
adaptation to climate change in the most vulnerable countries.
"That all needs to be done here, and it means that delegates have to
agree on a process that gets us to a mandate at the next COP, so we can get
these negotiations finished and they can be implemented in time for January 1,
2013," Sawyer said.
Countries agreed at last year's COP in Montreal that there should be no
"gap" between the end of the Kyoto Protocol's first compliance period
(2008-2012) and the start of the second period.
Sawyer said that any gap between the two periods would send "an
absolutely devastating signal to the carbon markets."

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DOUBT ANNEX 1 'GOOD FAITH'
The Greenpeace official also noted that some developing countries are
hesitating over agreeing to a review of the Protocol. According to Sawyer,
these countries "are not convinced of the good faith of some of the Annex 1
(developed) countries."
Sawyer said that some developed countries?-he listed Japan, Australia,
New Zealand and Canada and some unnamed EU member states-?have begun to
question the flexible mechanisms, the legally-binding emissions reduction
targets and the timetables for action.
"We're calling on them to come out clearly and say they are committed to
the fundamental architecture [of Kyoto], and they're not going to be seeking
to undermine it in the negotiations for a second commitment period," Sawyer
said.
Stephan Singer of WWF raised particular concerns about the EU's position
towards a second Kyoto commitment period. He said the EU had been "lukewarm
and hesitant," and had given up its self-proclaimed leadership position on
many of the issues regarding post-2012 commitments.
"To conclude the negotiations as soon as possible should be a matter of
urgency for the EU, which is the largest trading bloc worldwide," Singer said.
"The EU, which has been a leader in the past, is now calling for open-ended
discussions. This does not give investment security for expanding the carbon
market."
"So we call on the EU to immediately start to put pressure on their
delegations to make sure that negotiations are concluded by 2009 at the
latest."
The EU is also not leading by setting itself targets, Singer said.
Although the UK, Germany and France have all begun to talk about setting a
domestic target of 30% cuts in GHG emissions by 2020, Singer said they had
only done so in a "lukewarm" manner and had not translated these domestic cuts
into priority targets across the EU.
Singer said many EU countries were particularly silent on climate change
and on domestic emission reduction commitments. "Where are they? We don't hear
them," he said. "We need these countries to speak out."
Greenpeace's Sawyer suggested that the recent elections in the US and the
new Democrat majority in Congress may be part of the reason for the EU's new
hesitancy. "Maybe they're saying "we want to wait for the US"", Sawyer said.
"But waiting for the US means basically that you put off the Kyoto second
commitment period negotiations to a point where they don't mean much any
more."

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