Bangkok meet fails to finalise draft on climate change rules
The Economics Times
September 09, 2018
An international
meeting in Bangkok fell short of its aim of
completing fruitful preparations to help an agreement be
reached in December
on guidelines for
implementing the 2015 Paris climate change
agreement. The six-day meeting, which ended
on Sunday, was scheduled to step up
progress in the battle against rising global
carbon emissions by adopting a completed
text that could be presented at the
COP24 conference in Katowice,
Poland, three months from now.
A primary objective
of the 2015 Paris agreement, to which
190 nations subscribe, is to limit the global
temperature increase by 2100 to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees, which is vital to the survival of island nations
threatened by rising seas. But the absence of guidelines for meeting that goal
has led to fears that not enough action is being taken.
There have been
notable disagreements over fair financing for implementation of the rules by developing
countries, and the technical details of their reporting on progress. Patricia Espinosa,
executive secretary for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said
Sunday at the closing press briefing for the Bangkok meeting that progress
was made on most issues but nothing was finalised.
The meeting was
attended by representatives of most of the countries party to the Paris agreement, as well as
the United States, which has announced that it is pulling out of the pact.
Espinosa said there
was "limited progress" on the issue of contributions from developed nations to developing
countries, adding that she is "hopeful" that future discussions will
be productive
because of the importance of the issue.
"On
the core issues of forward-looking climate finance and the degree of
flexibility developing
countries should be given on the information and reporting requirements for national
commitments under the Paris Agreement, negotiators were stalemated in Bangkok,"
said a statement from Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for the
Union of
Concerned Scientists, a US-based activist group.
"It's
now up to the incoming Polish presidency and officials leading negotiations to
find ways to
bridge the deep differences on these issues and to secure agreement in Katowice on a
robust, comprehensive package of rules to implement the Paris Agreement,"
he said. Harjeet
Singh, climate policy manager for ActionAid International, said Sunday that a
vital component
of the Paris agreement is for wealthy nations to provide financial assistance
to
developing
countries as they fight natural disasters brought by climate change.
But he
said wealthy and developed countries "led by the United States and
including countries
such as Australia, Japan and even the European Union" refused to clearly show "how much money they are going to provide and how that is
going to be counted."
Advocacy
for the developing countries was led at the meeting by China, said Meyer, but was also
supported by others, including India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Activists
were critical of Washington's lobbying at the meeting, especially because President
Donald Trump has announced plans to have the US withdraw from the Paris pact,
which had been heavily promoted by his predecessor, Barack Obama. "The
US has announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement but still negotiates
as if it is a
Party, weakening international cooperation by not contributing to finance and technology
transfer to developing countries," Meena Raman, legal adviser at Third
World
Network, said in an emailed statement.
Climate change is a
polarizing issue in the United States, and some states and local communities have
announced policies supporting the Paris agreement.
Thousands of
governors, mayors, company CEOs and civil society leaders are expected to gather
this week in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit.
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