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CANCUN – 11 DECEMBER 2010


Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Early Saturday morning, as many delegates and observers were on their way home without knowing what the outcome of the conference would be, those remaining adopted a series of decisions that have received a generally positive reception – resulting in the Cancun conference being seen as something of a success!

Two major agreements, one relating to the Kyoto Protocol and the other relating to long-term cooperative action were adopted by delegates, despite opposition from Bolivia.

In what should be a positive outcome, after 10 years of debate, delegates agreed to include carbon capture and storage within the Clean Development Mechanism. There is still a significant programme of work to be conducted throughout 2011 to develop the framework within which CCS will operate in the CDM, and there will be challenges ahead, but it is a significant step that agreement has finally been reached on this issue, something for which WCA has been campaigning for a long time.

Christian Figueres and Patricia Espinosa celebrate the agreements at COP16 (Photo Courtesy UNFCCC)

Christian Figueres and Patricia Espinosa celebrate the agreements at COP16 (Photo courtesy UNFCCC)

The package that was agreed, which will be known as the Cancun Agreements, does leave many major questions unanswered and these will need to be resolved at COP17 in Durban next year. But the fact that agreements could be reached on a number of key issues does seem to have salvaged the UNFCCC process for now at least.

The agreement on long-term cooperative action has, importantly, established the Green Climate Fund along with measures in which developing nations can be compensated for keeping forests intact (known as REDD). It also establishes a process by which clean energy technology can be transferred from developed to developing countries. Unanswered questions, however, include the future of the Kyoto Protocol after the first commitment period ends in 2012 and how the task of reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be shared between industrialised and major emerging economies over the coming years.

Clearly there will be a significant amount of work that needs to happen through 2011 to ensure that the positive outcome from Cancun can be repeated in Durban this time next year and it will be interesting to see how that progresses.

A full review of the Cancun conference and the Cancun Agreements will be in the next edition of WCA’s  Ecoal newsletter, which will be out later this month. For now, however, the daily blogging ends and I hope you have found it interesting and useful.

December 13, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 9 DECEMBER 2010


Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Tomorrow is the final day of negotiations here in Cancun and late on Thursday night there is still no news of any real progress.

Around the conference venue  it was clear that negotiations had mostly been taken out of the hands of negotiators and that discussions are now occurring between Ministers behind closed doors. We seem certain to have some sort of text, whether it be called an Accord, Declaration, Mandate or whatever, being agreed tomorrow but what form that will take still isn’t clear.

There’s a good chance something more concrete on forestry will be agreed and potentially the structure of a ‘green fund’ financial package.  Where CCS in the CDM will sit within that context remains to be seen.

As with previous talks it seems to be all coming down to last minute, back-room deals. Most delegates now expect some sort of statement that will build momentum towards next year’s conference in Durban, South Africa. The Mexican Presidency said earlier today the conference was definitely going to wrap-up by the scheduled 6.00pm finishing time, a promise often made but rarely kept by hosts. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings!

December 10, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 8 DECEMBER 2010

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Many negotiations continued behind closed doors today but we continue to hear from Ministers and Heads of State in the high-level segment of the CMP. In the last two days I have been able to attend two events hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. One of these focused on what the UN system as a whole is doing on climate issues and the other was a report by the high-level working group on climate financing.

Both of these sessions, however, focused on issues of climate and development and echoed WCA’s position on these issues that an effective and sustainable climate response must integrate environmental imperatives with the legitimate aims of energy security and economic development, including poverty alleviation.

There is some good work going on in Cancun on the climate financing issue, partly supported by the report of the working group and some delegates are hopeful it can form part of an agreement to be finalised in the final day of talks on Friday. That would be a positive step but many others are not so optimistic, the Mexicans still have their work cut out for them.

December 9, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 7 DECEMBER 2010

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Today has been a day of rumours. Speculation as to what influence Ministers might have over the process has been a popular topic of discussion amongst participants. Depending on which rumour mill you listen to, we are either close to some form of agreement coming out of Cancun or it is all falling apart. Anticipation that a deal might be done on REDD+ (forestry) collapsed yesterday when negotiators failed to get agreement on a way to move forward. In the early days REDD+ was seen as one of the most likely areas for agreement in Cancun.

A new word has begun to be heard around the conference halls today, “jein”, apparently in German it means “yes and no” … so that should give you a sense of how things are progressing!

December 7, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 6 DECEMBER 2010


Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

We are now at the beginning of the second week of climate negotiations in Cancun. Ministers and Heads of State are arriving and there is a noticeable change in atmosphere. There is, however, a big challenge ahead this week to have something tangible come out this conference.

Going into these talks expectations were pretty low and it seems those expectations are going to be met. Senior developed and developing country officials are now expressing concerns privately that there may be no outcome from Cancun; a prospect which is giving nightmares to our Mexican hosts.

The major stumbling block to progress in the negotiations is the role of the Kyoto Protocol. A further commitment period is clearly a prerequisite before developing countries will sign up to any post-2012 agreement, but developed countries are looking for serious commitments from developing countries (along the lines of the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol) before they will agree to further emissions reductions measures. This was an issue even before these negotiations began but this “chicken and egg” situation seems to have become more intractable over the first week.

To top it off, Japan stated categorically that it would not make further commitments under the Kyoto Protocol under any circumstance and has put these negotiations on an even more difficult footing.

Negotiations at COP16/CMP6 (Photo courtesy: UNFCCC)

Negotiations at COP16/CMP6 (Photo courtesy: UNFCCC)

One of the key issues in these debates about future agreements is MRV – measuring, reporting and verification – especially when it comes to developing countries. Developed countries, particularly the US, are pushing an international review regime to monitor developing countries’ achievement of their commitments under any future agreement, a proposal that has not gone down well with the G77 and China group.

It does seem that if something is to come out of this conference it will be in the area of finance.

The pledges for $30 billion of fast-track finance made in Copenhagen have effectively been met. There is confidence that money can be found to meet the more substantive (and substantial) target of raising $100bn a year by 2020 for developing countries. There is also confidence that negotiations here can see a climate fund being established to deliver this money. Some of the key elements like governance of the fund and allocation of more money for adaptation to the impacts of climate change seem to be heading towards consensus and the overall package appears to be close to agreement.

One of the main challenges going forward will be that most finance committed to date by governments has been channelled through existing frameworks, which might leave the new fund in the precarious position of needing to source the larger pool of finance through other mechanisms, particularly markets, which will be no small task.

Also on the financing front, as Milton reported yesterday there has been progress on CCS in the CDM. How far we get on this in the remainder of the week remains to be seen. The best outcome looks to be for the CMP to agree on a programme of work for 2011 leading to a decision to include CCS in the CDM at COP17 in Durban next year.

There is a sense that the real discussions here in Cancun are yet to begin. With Ministers and Heads of State beginning to make their presence felt and the President of Mexico back in town today, it’s clear the COP presidency will be working hard to deliver some form of an outcome in Cancun. The pressure is really not just on the Mexican presidency to deliver an outcome but also on the entire process. After Copenhagen, if Cancun is seen as nothing more than a talking shop with little in the way of meaningful progress, the questions about the objective of the UNFCCC process are only going to become more frequent.

December 6, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 5 DECEMBER 2010

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

CCS in the CDM is still alive.

On Saturday the SBSTA adopted a text that represents drafting by a sub-group on the issue and some very late nights for government negotiators.  Saudi Arabia in particular have been strong advocates and this time were ably aided by Indonesia.

The progress we have seen goes to show the importance of continued campaigning by the World Coal Association and many others on this issue

From what we have heard, the mood in the closed government-only negotiation room was unusually upbeat.  Previous sessions have reportedly been pretty uncompromising.

It may all go belly-up next week when this document is referred to the CMP,  but there is room for optimism, not least of all since our Mexican hosts have scheduled a ministerial level roundtable on CCS and are desperate for something meaningful to announce after a lacklustre first week.

The most likely scenario now is that the first option will get up – CCS included in the CDM but subject to resolution later of the “criteria”.  My belief is that this would bring us right to the hard point of a political deal that could be made at the negotiations this time next year in Durban.  The essential element of this could be that the Saudis will stop blocking REDD if Brazil stops blocking CCS in the CDM.

December 6, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 3 DECEMBER 2010

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Another series of intense and technical negotiations today. Delegates are, of course, keen to get some good progress on key issues before Ministers start getting involved in negotiations from early next week.  The atmosphere here is pretty positive and relaxed compared to previous UNFCCC meetings. With a ‘business casual’ dress code declared by the secretariat before the conference got under way, there does seem to be less heat in the negotiations. Having said that, there are some difficult discussions taking place about the future of the Kyoto Protocol. Tomorrow there will be a further debate on the role of CCS in the CDM, so we will be keen to see how that progresses.

December 4, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 2 DECEMBER 2010

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

The last few days have been full of technical negotiations on a range of issues. The inclusion of CCS in the CDM is just one of these. Another key issue has been discussion around the post-2012 funding mechanism, including the possible creation of a “green fund” of some sort. Along with CCS in the CDM, it will be important to see some more progress on this over the remaining week of the conference.

Ministers and Heads of State/Government are due to begin arriving over the weekend so that will certainly bring a different dynamic to the discussions. We heard earlier in the week that in addition to Ministers from most countries, some 26 Heads of State will be here next week. This will have a significant impact on the already tight security arrangements!

December 3, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 1 DECEMBER 2010

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

In my second blog you might recall I (almost) complained about staying at the Moon Palace, the main conference venue, with it feeling a bit like being in a climate prison. Well it seems it might be even harder to get into the conference than to get around the main venues! Conference logistics have been a popular topic of discussion among participants not staying at the conference venue. While negotiations are taking place at the Moon Palace, which is normally some 20-45 minutes drive away from most hotels – the heavy morning traffic and numerous police check points meant that many delegates spent several hours stuck in a traffic jam on the first day of the conference, and things have only marginally improved since. In addition, delegates have to travel past the Moon Palace to the second venue, the Cancun Messe (or the Cancun “mess”, as some have named it!) to go through a security check, board shuttle buses and drive a further 20 minutes back to the Moon Palace. So it seems there are some advantages to staying at the “centre” of the action.

A lot of non-government participants have also criticised the separation of the venues for side-events (at the Cancun Messe) and negotiations (at the Moon Palace). Historically government representatives have been able to drop in to side events (most of which are run by NGOs) in between negotiation meetings. This has given government delegates the opportunity to participate in detailed discussions on issues of interest to many NGOs, including business and industry representatives. However, with these side-event discussions now being held a good 20 minute bus ride away, there has been noticeably reduced attendance by government delegates at side-events this year, which is pretty disappointing.

December 2, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA, WCA at Cancun

CANCUN – 30 NOVEMBER 2010

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

CCS in the CDM

This is one of the key topics we came here for! Discussions in the Subsidiary Body on Science and Technology (SBSTA) got under way today and the inclusion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was one of the major discussion points.

Debate was opened by Norway, a country that has been a leader in the development of CCS technology. They noted the significant impact that deployment of CCS could have in reducing CO2 emissions. Norway strongly supports inclusion of CCS in the CDM and noted that if it was to be included, uniform rules could be developed to ensure that CCS projects could be implemented with maximum environmental integrity.

Australia also continued its support for the inclusion of CCS in the CDM. They noted that both the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are technology neutral agreements and argued that developing countries should have a choice in low emission development pathways. This is an important point, to ensure the world achieves its emissions reduction goals all technologies will need to be deployed and developing countries should have the choice as to how they can meet their energy needs while also working to meet emission reduction objectives. While Australia noted that some countries have issues about CCS and its inclusion in the CDM, it argued that these issues can be addressed in the guidance that would be developed should CCS be included in the CDM.  It was also good to hear Australia call for this issue to be resolved in Cancun.

The call to resolve this issue was echoed by Saudi Arabia, who continued to argue in favour of inclusion of CCS in the CDM. Like WCA, Saudi Arabia are concerned about the slow progress on this issue. The delegate from Saudi Arabia argued that at present there is no incentive for developing countries to deploy this important technology but that including CCS in the CDM would be a win-win situation. He argued this is because it is the most promising technology for reducing carbon emissions and will reduce the impact of addressing climate change on developing countries.

Joining the argument, Papua New Guinea also argued that the CDM needs to be technology neutral and that all tools need to be available to mitigate climate change and none should be put aside. Indonesia, referring to its previous submission on this issue, also supported inclusion of CCS in the CDM and called on other parties to act constructively on this issue.

Two other countries, India and Mexico, argued that discussions need to continue and the issues about the inclusion of CCS in the CDM need to be explored further.  Brazil continued its opposition, which is disappointing.  A lot of work has been done to address the concerns raised about CCS and its inclusion in the CDM, this report by the World Resources Institute is one example. WCA has also previously submitted that CCS should be included in the CDM.

The matter has now been referred to an informal contact group, which will report back to SBSTA on Saturday. WCA certainly will be supporting the calls by Australia and Saudi Arabia for a decision to be reached on including CCS in the CDM here in Cancun.

December 1, 2010 | Categories: Climate change, WCA at Cancun
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