Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director
Well here we are two weeks on; it’s the final day of negotiations at COP17 in Durban. It’s been a busy two weeks with delegates trying to bring together different streams of negotiations into a final outcome. There have been some late nights for delegates as they try to reach compromises on a range of draft decision texts and provide options for Ministers. Meanwhile, Ministers have been locked away in meetings trying to reach political consensus on issues that negotiators have struggled to resolve. Time is quickly running out for an outcome to be agreed – so much so that the South African Presidency is rumoured to be suggesting extending the COP by hours or even days, unlikely though this is.
Where do we hope to see progress though? Before it began, this COP was sold as the one that would be about the developing world, but in the areas where an outcome could be possible by tonight, there are mixed messages.
Getting financing and technology for mitigation and adaption to developing countries is key to ensuring a positive outcome from this COP. Media reports indicate an agreement could be reached later today on the architecture for the Green Climate Fund, which will facilitate billions of dollars in climate finance to developing countries but talk on the ground doesn’t seem quite so enthusiastic. If an agreement can be reached it will be good news because agreeing the mechanics of the fund are essential – although at this stage it looks unlikely that there will be any agreement on exactly where the money will come from. The Copenhagen Accord called for $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020 and pledges are running well short of that target in a tumultuous global economic environment. Meanwhile there seems to have been good progress in negotiations on the technology mechanism which will help transfer low-carbon technologies to developing countries, but some key issues remain unresolved.
On the major issue we have been following, including of CCS in the CDM, it looks like there will be a positive outcome. Later today the CMP is expected to sign off on a decision to adopt the modalities and procedures (rules) that will allow carbon capture and storage projects to be included in the Clean Development Mechanism. This will be a major win in supporting the deployment of this essential mitigation technology in the CDM.
Finally, everyone at the conference is looking towards the future and the prospect of some kind of road map to agree a comprehensive climate agreement being agreed in the years to come. The role of the Kyoto Protocol and any second commitment period is also tied up in this discussion. A number of countries previously seen to be blocking the road map idea such as the United States and China have made positive noises in the past day or so. There has been talk of some kind of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, though exactly what that might look like is unclear. With many parties setting a range of conflicting pre-conditions for agreement on these issues to be reached it will be a challenge to bring that all together in the remaining hours.
I expect negotiators will be burning the midnight oil tonight to try and bring all this together. It’s going to be a challenge, but a positive outcome could be within reach.
