Ghana SBS to Natural Resources and Environmental Governance v3 short fin - ti...
Overview UNFCCC negotiations - Tamale - Doolan
1. Climate Change Negotiations
From Bali to Copenhagen via Accra & Tamale
– Ghana has a stake & influence
Sean Doolan
NL Embassy, DFID Ghana
Sean.Doolan@minbuza.nl
S-Doolan@dfid.gov.uk
Voice & Vision on Climate Change
SEND Ghana, Tamale
27-28 August 2009
2. What does “climate change” mean?
… for “poverty”, “development”… & Ghana?
3. Climate & human development
Reaching tipping points
– Productivity & food/water security
– Humanitarian & disaster risk reduction
– GDP impacts, energy
– Health implications
Not just extreme shocks
– Eroding coping capacity
– Protecting past & current progress
on human development & growth
– Preventing reversal in
positive trajectory
– Vulnerable groups & regions
4. Climate change negotiations ongoing
Post-2012 framework negotiations - UNFCCC
• Bali 2007 to Copenhagen 2009
• Fast-moving, fragmented, overload
Implications of CC for development
• Adaptation (how cope & reduce risk?)
• Mitigation (how prevent? adapt energy? link to carbon markets)
• Action at country & regional levels
6. Climate change & disaster risk responses
Significant governance challenges
• Who is involved - top-down, bottom-up?
• National & sector levels, Institutional structure?
• How strategies are crafted – what content?
Multiple stakeholders
• MDAs, MoFEP, Castle
• Different sector groups, local government
• Civil society, academia, industry
7. Barriers
• Financial downturn – political & economic
distraction
• Too much pressure on developing countries
• Too many meetings
• Strategic interests
• Uncertainty on best strategies
• Institutional patchwork
• Fragmentation
8. Prospects for Copenhagen
• Need political momentum & equity
• Need mandate for country negotiators &
politicians
• Quantified targets by industrialised countries
• General framings of key issues: technology,
REDD, adaptation, financing
→ Framework deal
→ Discussions on modalities over next 3 years
10. Food &
agriculture
Public
Big picture 2?
Health
Private Civil society
Finance &
Economic
Planning
Environment,
Science &
Technology
Nat CC
committee
Env & NR
Council
Technical officials,
civil society
Ministers, VP
Energy
Forestry
EPA
Civil
society
Nat Dev
Planning
Comm’sn
Met
Agency
Foreign
Affairs
REDD
committee
11. Informed ability to engage
• How attract interest of politicians?
– Need informed ability to engage
– Economics (what value, costs?)
– Scale (extent, number of voters)
• Towards wider “programmatic approaches”?
– Financing mechanisms & country systems -
scale
– Allocations & trade-offs across sectors
– How integrate into sectoral & national plans &
response?
– Carbon markets
• Institutional frameworks & dynamics
• Capacity & training
12. Bali Roadmap
Two negotiation tracks
• UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change
• Kyoto Protocol
Bali Action Plan 2007
• Shared vision, including long term goal
• Mitigation- developed & developing
countries
• Adaptation
• Technology to support Mitigation &
Adaptation
• Finance to support Mitigation & Adaptation
13. 13
International climate change negotiations
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
G8: Germany Japan Italy Canada
Major Economies Meeting
UNFCCC: COP 12 COP 13 COP 14 COP 15
Nairobi Indonesia Poland Denmark
Convention Dialogue
New Kyoto targets for developed
Countries –Ad hoc Working Group KP
BALI ROADMAP
Accelerated work plan:
•Convention
Negotiations: AWG
Long-term Coop Action
•New Kyoto targets for
developed countries:
AWG Kyoto Protocol
Deal on global
&
comprehensive
post-2012
framework
UN GA
4th
AR
IPCC UN GA
Other “near-negotiations”: UN HLE, AU, AMCEN, Fin4Dev, APF, V10, APEC, G20, OECD, WTO, IEA …
Major Economies
Forum
EU: Portugal Slovenia France Czech Sweden Spain Belgium
14. Current status & Parties’ positions
Critical fault lines
• Who does what? Who wants what?
• All text options now on negotiations table
Key questions
• Legal form (binding or not)
• Annex I targets
• Developing country actions (& support)
• Rules & methodologies on how targets/actions are
achieved
e.g. role of market-mechanisms (carbon markets),
REDD, financing, technology transfer, Clean
Development Mechanism …
15. Post-2012 deal - five development tests
1.Ambitious goal with credible near-term targets
2.A way of sharing greenhouse gas emissions
that is fair & equitable
3.Support for technology development &
transfer to benefit developing countries
4.Reformed carbon market to increase reach &
impact of carbon finance for poor countries
5.Support for developing countries to build
resilience & adapt to climate change
16. Actors
Major country coalitions
– European Union
– Umbrella Group
– G-77 & China
• AOSIS (small island states)
• LDCs
• African Group
• OPEC members
17. Non-governmental: over 600 observers
– Environmental & development NGOs
– Business NGOs
– Research NGOs
– Local & municipal authorities
– Indigenous peoples & organisations
Actors
Env NGOs
– Coordinator: Climate Action Network
Business INGOs
– Coordinator: International Chamber of
Commerce
– Major alliance: World Business Council for
Sustainable Development
18. Major issues & bloc positions
Mitigation
– New emissions targets by developed
countries
– Actions by developing countries
– Forests: REDD; sustainable forest
management
– Emissions trading
– Sectoral approaches
– Emissions from aviation and ships
19. Response to climate change must be
rooted in development
Development
Mitigation Adaptation
Climate-
compatible
development
Climate-
proofed
abatement
Climate-
resilient
Low-carbon
… but aligned with
mitigation &
adaptation
objectives
20. South Africa’s vision on climate change
Source: Dept of Environment and Tourism, South Africa
• Transition to climate resilient and low-carbon economy
• Our climate response policy, built on six pillars, will be
informed by what is required by science – to limit
global temperature increase to 2°C above pre-
industrial levels
• Continue to pro-actively build the knowledge base and
our capacity to adapt to the inevitable impacts of
climate change
• GHG emissions must peak, plateau and decline - stop
growing at the latest by 2020-2025, stabilise for up to
ten years, then decline in absolute terms
• Long term: redefine our competitive advantage and
structurally transform the economy by shifting from an
energy-intensive to a climate-friendly path as part of a
pro-growth, pro-development and pro-jobs strategy
21. Adaptation
• Methodology / Assessment: vulnerability,
financial needs, capacity-building
• Impact focus: Risk management and risk
reduction strategies; Disaster reduction
strategies
• Vulnerability focus: poverty eradication;
building response capacity; economic
diversification
• Integration into national planning
• Financing: UNFCCC as facilitator; damage
costs?
22. Technology
• Support of deployment & transfer
• Removal of barriers (e.g. subsidies)
• Creating favourable investment climates
• R&D cooperation
• Sectoral focus
• Clean Development Mechanism reform
• Funding
23. Finance
• New & additional resources
• Positive incentives for developing countries
to mitigate & adapt
• Mobilization of public- & private sector
funding
• One funding mechanism for mitigation &
adaptation?
24. Stabilisation & change in temperature
– limit to 2oC average global rise
1°C 2°C 5°C4°C3°C
400 ppm CO2e
450 ppm CO2e
550 ppm CO2e
650ppm CO2e
750ppm CO2e
5% 95%
Eventual temperature change (relative to pre-industrial)
0°C
25. Emissions need to be cut from several sources
– not just power generation
Four ways to cut:
• demand
• efficiency
• lower-carbon
technologies
• non-energy emissions
26. Ghana capacity as carbon sink
1996, Ghana a net GHG sink but… 1996, not 2009
12,388
12,267
12,673
14,004 13,999
14,265
14,878
10,000
10,500
11,000
11,500
12,000
12,500
13,000
13,500
14,000
14,500
15,000
CO2EQUIVALENTEMISSIONS(Gg)
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
YEAR
Without LUCF
-20,417 -21,191
-15,585
-8,806
-5,411 -5,971
-4,082
-26,000
-21,000
-16,000
-11,000
-6,000
-1,000
NETCO2EQUIVALENT
EMISSIONS(Gg)
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
YEAR
Net, with Land
Use Change &
Forestry
(LUCF)
27. Development & adaptation: a continuum
Vulnerability Impacts
Focus
Addressing
drivers of
vulnerability
Building
response
capacity
Climate risk
management
Confronting
climate change
Development assistance UNFCCC
International funding
Uncertainty, lack of awareness Risk
Knowledge of climate change
Approach
Discrete adaptationClimate resilient development
28. Major UNFCCC provisions
Chief objective
Art. 2:
• stabilize greenhouse gas emissions
• prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference
with the climate system
Principles
– Art. 3(1):
• Equity; ‘common but differentiated
responsibilities and capbilities’
– Art. 3(3)
• Precautionary principle
– Art. 3(4)
• Sustainable development
Hinweis der Redaktion
Lord Stern:
The South should frame the conditionality for successful talks:
80% reduction by 2050 under 1990 levels
Sharing climate-friendly technologies
Sharing revenues from carbon trading
Financing global adaptation
Tradition of framework deals
Obama: not enough time
Problem will be the new Marrakesh accords
Politics flows where the interests are
Adaptation will remain an issue, but development agencies have to be prepared to close the gap (not only WB)
targets of developing countries: maybe as suggested by BASIC project: leading DCs could provide regular information on their emission cuts (first step to binding commitments?)
What vertical linkages are required to address climate change, from global to household and individual levels? Which links are key?
What horizontal linkages are required?
How can different stakeholders engage?
Who Does What?
While parties to the UNFCCC & Protocol accept mainstream scientists’ findings on the need for significant & urgent action, it is clear that some fundamental differences persist on the critical question: who should do what? The UNFCCC enshrines the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, & all parties agree that Annex I countries should take the lead. But what does this actually mean? How much of a lead must Annex I countries take? Must they take on national emissions targets? If so, how ambitious should those targets be? & what should developing countries do? Responsibilities may be different, but should not all countries contribute to the solution, especially given that most future emissions growth will occur in major emitters from the South?
These issues are complex & highly sensitive. Developing a framework that delivers the massive changes in emissions levels in a form agreeable to almost 200 countries is a daunting task.
Key Topics in the “Who Does What” Debate
Within this core question, various specific debates & fault lines have emerged. These will need to be resolved in Copenhagen if an agreement is to be reached.
Four key debates relate to: (CLICK)
a) the legal form of a future agreement; b) the level of Annex I targets; c) what sort of actions developing countries should take on; & d) the rules governing targets & actions – including the use of market-based mechanisms, forestry, land use, & so on.
Structure of talk – no need to elaborate.
Umbrella Group = loose coalition of non-EU developed countries, which “metamorphosed from the longer-standing JUSSCANNZ group” (Yamin and Depledge 2004: 45). The name JUSSCANNZ is based on the initial letters of its members Japan, United States, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Norway and New Zealand. The difference between the Umbrella Group and JUSSCANNZ is that the former excludes Switzerland, whose position on flexibility mechanisms is much closer to that of the EU, while including Russia and Ukraine who both share the other members’ support for unrestricted emissions trading (Yamin and Depledge 2004: 46).
While the EU has acted as a leader among industrialized countries, pushing for the further development of the UN climate regime, the Umbrella Group has mostly played the role of a laggard (Oberthür and Ott 1999: 13ff., 65ff.). Developing countries on the other hand, have largely supported the evolution of the regime, while being reluctant to commit to binding quantitative emissions reductions. They have nonetheless agreed to general commitments under Articles 4(1), 5 and 6 of the convention, which apply to all Parties (Bodansky 2001: 205)
None of these three groups should be seen as a coherent block: since climate negotiations have been covering a large number of different concerns, internal differences have become more or less visible in sub-groups or changing alliances (cf. Grubb, Vrolijk and Brack 1999: 27ff.; Schröder 2001). T
The remarkable unity of the Group of 77 notwithstanding (Biermann 1998: 35ff., 2005: 274f.), developed countries have also grouped together in smaller alliances during climate negotiations, most notably the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), least developed countries (LDCs), the African Group, and members of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) (Carter 2001: 236f.; Ott 1997: 207f.; Yamin and Depledge 2004: 34ff
EU:Eastern European countries have formed or participated in a series of different groups. By the same token, old and new EU members have been at odds about common climate strategies, for example, relative to reference years for the calculations of emission reduction targets
Equally, members of the Umbrella Group have not always pursued a coherent strategy; for instance, apart from the U.S., all members of the Umbrella Group have meanwhile ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
What is more, cross-cutting to these various coalitions, there is also an official distinction among country groups. Following established practice in the UN, the climate regime recognizes five UN regions - that is, Africa (also covering the Pacific); Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean; Central and Eastern Europe; and Western Europe and Others. “The regional group system is only of limited relevance to the substantive interests of Parties in climate change politics. […] [T]he system has, however proved remarkably resilient in the regime, as indeed it has throughout the UN system” (Yamin and Depledge 2004: 33). For instance, the system was used as a basis for electing the members of most of the specialized bodies of the climate regime like the Compliance Committee.
High degree of institutional openness;
Conditions for observership: non-profit tax exempt status; expertise on climate change
- 5 types of constituencies established over the years
Most influential: ENGOs and BINGOs
Privileges
Access to conferene venue
Presence during meetings
Interventios during debate
Side-events
Face-to-face lobbying
Display and circulation of material
IMPORTANT:
First time distinguishing between ICs and DCs (not Annex I countries)
25-40% by 2020; IPCC
EU & Obama: 80% by 2050 (ratification?; Byrd-Hagel 1997; condemning exemption for DCs); Obama wants to push trhough federal legislation this year
EU: 20%-30% by 2020; (IPCC)
DCs: some form of action; also MRV
ICs: 15-30% below BAU by 2020
Russia: voluntary commitments
Scholars: differentiation
DCs: against binding targets and voluntary commitments
Leading DCs against differentiation
Scholars: global 50% by 2050 leaves us with 50% chance to overshoot 2°C goal
Big topic: REDD:
Accountable for 20% of global emissions
Bringing in commitments through the back-door
Problem:
how to pay?
Creating tradable credits (might flood the market)
ETS revenues (already other ideas)
Leakage, additionality and permanence
Pervertive incentives (what about biodiv)
Methodology: reference emission levels; changes in forest cover, carbon stocks; participation of indigenous people; good practice guidance for LULUCF
ICs: pushing for it (Norway, Germany)
DCs: like to stress conservation, forest management
ENGOs: no payments for hot air;
Emissions trading:
EU: all OECD countries until 2015; China and other NICs until 2020 (ICAP)
US: plans national cap-and-trade system
What about carbon taxes?
Aviation and shipping:
EU: 2020 below 2005 levels; 2050 below 1980 levels
US: skeptical; trade war?
OPEC: reluctant
Sectoral approaches:
Technology: second way to bring in commitments through the back door
Assessments: going away from impacts-based assessments; focus on vulnerability; social conditions; hence: development issue
Mainstreaming / integration: in order to avoid mere focus on impacts
Economic diversification: OPEC issue
Funding:
Taking pledged amounts together for existing multilateral funding initatives (AF, SCCF, LDCF, SPA): roughly US$ 500 m.
Adaptation Fund: not in a position to receive proposals; definition of operational policies and guidelines still missing; (DCs want legal capacity; independent fund)
Estimates: UNFCCC mentioned an amount of 28-67 billion US$ by 2030. The World Bank (2006) mentioned 9-41 billion US$ per year, and Oxfam even estimated an amount of 50 billion dollar per year (Oxfam 2007).
Even higher when taking into account damage costs; but so far not considered in negotiations; would be too much!
Problem: additionality; mainstreaming
EU: additional 175 m euros per year into adaptation funding; half of this going to DCs
Private funding: insurances (problem: uncertainties; avoiding exploitation of the poor); solutions: bundling into lending agreements; index-based insurances
Scholars: air travel levy
Current situation: Poznan; no agreement on further resources,
against backdrop of financial crisis; and duplication of debates (6 bodies for 90 items); new US administration
Tech-Trans
Poznan stratetic programme; but no accord on funding so far
Adaptation?
ICs:
IPR standards help;
want removal of trade barriers from developing countries
Against acquisition fund under the convention
Focus on funding: research and development
DCs:
relaxation of IPR standards;
against dual-use goods;
Want Tech-dev. And trans Board
Want clear indicators to monitor and assess tech-trans
Biofuels
EU: sustainability criteria
Brazil: rather skeptical
CDM
Smaller DCs: lower transaction costs; preferential treatment of LDCs, SIDS; methodology to calculate GHG reductions from small-scale projects
Larger DCs: acceleration of project registrations; SD-PAMs
OPEC: against preferential treatment;
ICs: EU supportive of simplifying CDM procedures for LDCs, etc.
Problem: several suggestions from scholars and ENGOs to avoid leakage: policy CDM; sectoral CDM; but not playing major role in negotiations
Methodology issues: project boundaries, leakage
New technologies for fossil fuels: CCS
Funding:
DCs: want acquisition fund to buy out IPRs
Private funding will become more important: but what about adaptation?
DCs
Want a new financial architecture
Want increased GEF-funding for capacity building
Leading DCs: Mexican proposal for multinational fund; DCs should draw from fund according to extent of their contributions;
China: 0.5% GDP fiscal commitment of developed countries for A&M
Other DCs: not fair, equitable
ICs
Want to build on existing institutions
Existing framework is sufficient; no need for monitoring indicators
EU: generate 1/3 of investment through emissions trading
Scholars (Benito Müller): criteria
Additionality
Predictability (not subject to domestic revenue problems)
Apporporiateness (neither loans nor grants)
Adequacy (scale of funding)
Equity = historic responsibilities and capaicties
North would have to provide up to 85% of global adaptation costs
Stern: every year of inactio means loss of 5-20% of global GDP; EU should provide 35 billion euros for developing countries
A summary of recent evidence of the commitment to warming for different stabilisation levels. This new evidence allows us to apply probabilities to projections of future climate change
Ends of range – lowest probability; near centre of range – highest probability
The red bars indicate range (90% confidence) based on two studies – IPCC Third Assessment Report (2001) and Hadley Centre (2004). IPCC because internationally agreed. Hadley because more recent, more sophisticated on probabilities and central of recent studies.
The grey bars cover the range of eleven recent studies.
Detail and sources:
The lower bound is the 5th percentile from a study based on the IPCC Third Assessment Report (Wigley and Raper 2001). The upper bound is the 95th percentile is from a recent study by the Hadley Centre that explores the uncertainty in climate models (Murphy et al. 2004).
The grey lines indicate the results over 11 recent studies (from Meinshausen (2006)) – 5% point from lowest, and 95% from highest. [newer studies are still emerging and give results within this range]
Now at 430ppm and rising 2.5ppm per year [rate varies significantly year to year, 2004 it was 2.2ppm/yr, average 2.3ppm per year 1980-2004]
GLOBAL Emissions arise from a very wide range of economic activities so a variety of solutions will be needed to bring about the reductions highlighted in the previous slide.
Economics of cost dictate that reducing emissions wherever cheapest across sectors and regions will reduce the cost of any given target which will involve reducing emissions through all four of the routes identified in this slide.
In the power sector, very many technologies that can reduce emissions.
In non-energy emissions, reducing deforestation would make an immediate impact likely to be cost effective by agriculture may be more problematic.
All countries around the world must be involved in action.
In the long-run stabilisation, annual emissions must be 80-90% below current levels – equivalent of decarbonising everything except agriculture
Not about avoiding greenhouse effect as such, but anthropogenic effect
Six gases: CO2, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O) and three groups of fluorinated gases: HFCs, PFCs and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)