tyler goes green but will not wear cargo pants: UNFCCC on Climate Change - What is going on with Climate Change bills?!

After reading the Geo 4 Fact sheet- I realized that at best I possessed a superficial understanding around the UN's involvement in formulating international climate change policies and what the US's role in those meetings was- So a few hours of reading one article after another on various websites (all the links are listed at the end of this post)- I began to piece together a framework that helped me to fill in some of my many blanks.

This is my overall summary on the major political meetings and policies-

The United Nationals Framework Convention on Climate Change was one of three conventions adopted at the 1992 "Rio Earth Summit- UNFCC is made up of 192 countries- it is an international treaty that sets general goals and rules for confronting climate change.

Every year the UNFCCC meet to talked these are called COPs- Conferences of the Parties.

I. In 1997- the landmark Kyoto Protocol

Major Points:

1-Carbon Emissions- Only Annex 1 (developed industrialized countries) are ask to undertake carbon emissions mitigation to 5% below 1990 levels by 2008 - 2012.

Each country that signed the protocol agreed to its own specific target. EU countries are expected to cut their present emissions by 8% and Japan by 5%. Some countries with low emissions were permitted to increase them.

***The Kyoto Protocol became a legally binding treaty on 16 February 2005- ONLY after

* It had been ratified by at least 55 countries

* It had been ratified by nations accounting for at least 55% of emissions from Annex 1 countries - 38 industrialized countries given targets for reducing emissions, plus Belarus, Turkey and now Kazakhstan- Russia was critical to sign on after US and Australia refused!!!

"US President George W Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, saying implementing it would gravely damage the US economy. His administration dubbed the treaty "fatally flawed", partly because it does not require developing countries to commit to emissions reductions. China and India fall into this category, although they are two of the world's biggest producers of greenhouse gases. Mr Bush says he backs emissions reductions through voluntary action and new energy technologies." (Link 2)

2-Established three market-based mechanisms

1) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)- a means of allowing the Annex 1countries to meet their national targets by investing in lower cost carbon emission reduction projects in developing countries. The CDMs main purpose is to reduce the cost of cutting emissions in the North while helping developing countries finance their own clean energy projects.

"The CDM is a private-sector initiative that allows businesses in developed countries to meet part of their domestic emissions targets by financing emissions-reducing projects in developing countries, where costs are often lower. A European company required by its government to reduce greenhouse gas discharges by 100,000 tonnes per year, for example, might find it cheaper to upgrade a polluting coal-burning power plant in India than to modernize its factory at home. The CDM allows that company to count the pollution averted in India against its 100,000-tonne target." (link 1)

2) Emission Trading Mechanism by which an Annex I Party may transfer Kyoto Protocol units to or acquire units from another Annex I Party. An Annex I Party must meet specific eligibility requirements to participate in emissions trading. - Cap-and-trade schemes force participants -- often energy-intensive industries -- to buy permits to emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

3) Joint Implementation Mechanism- through which a developed country can receive 'emissions reduction units' when it helps to finance projects that reduce net greenhouse-gas emissions in another developed country (in practice, the recipient state is likely to be a country with an economy in transition).

3-Created in theory Adaption Fund- It uses proceeds from the 'Adaptation Levy' of 2 per cent on all certified emission reductions (CER) transactions made under the CDM. It in effect gathers money and distributes it to the MVC- Most Vulnerable Countries in order to help them protect their societies and economies against the impacts of climate change. This includes Less Developed Countries (LDC), Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Africa Group- 100 world's poorest countries (~1 billion people). This fund will help the people who will suffer the most from climate change but are only responsible for a fraction of it- less than 3-4% of carbon emissions!!!!!!

" The AFB has interesting and innovative features.

It is the first 'global tax' on a 'global good': the CERs are generated by a transaction between an entity (usually a private company) in a developed country and one in a developing country who then have it certified by an international body (the CDM Executive Board under the UNFCCC) who issue the CERs and, for every 100 CERs issued, keep two for the AF. So this fund does not go through any country’s national exchequer. Nor can it be seen as coming from developed countries, as developing countries are also party to the CDM transaction.
Its governance is far more democratic and representative, as it is under the COP/MOP (Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the protocol). The COP/MOP appoint a 16-member board from different regions with special seats for the two most vulnerable country groups, namely the LDCs and SIDS, giving a majority for developing countries. No other international funding institution has a such a democratic governance structure.
It allows direct access for funding to developing countries, although this is still being worked on, which is not the case for funding through the GEF. " (link 9)

II. COP7 Marrakesh, Morocco-

A number of new adaptation-related funds were agreed as part of the Marrakesh Accords

The LDCF- Least Developed Coutnries Fund- based on voluntary contributions from rich countries and managed through the GEF- Global Environment Facility which provided funding to nearly 50 LDCs to omplement the Nation Adaption Programmes of Action (NAPA). NAPAs identify immediate and urgent adaptation projects.

40 NAPAs have been competed- however available funding falls far short of the needs, LDCF contains only US$200 million where the total costs of all NAPAs submitted so far comes to some US$1.5 billion.

The SCCCF- Special Climate Change Fund is also based on voluntary contributions from rich countries and managed by the GEF, but is not confined to the LDCs nor solely to adaptation. This fund contains nearly US$400 million and has already started to fund adaptation projects in a number of developing countries.

III. COP13- Bali Action Plan (BAP)

1-It set a two-year limit for the COP15 meeting,

2-Declared that all countries will undertake Measurable, Verifiable and Reportable mitigation Actions (MVR).

3- Governments agreed to explore ways to expand the CDM into areas previously excluded from eligibility, such as forest preservation, and to simplify application and compliance rules.

4-Set up the Adaptation Fund in practice-

5- Created broad building blocks for a post-2012 'Copenhagen Agreement' were also agreed. These are:

stronger action on mitigation by all countries
adaptation by all countries and support for adaptation in the poorer and more vulnerable countries from richer countries
technology transfer for mitigation and adaptation
innovative finance for mitigation and adaptation.

IV. COP14- Poznań, Poland

Was seen as a disappointment by developing countries and environmental groups- Major contributing factors for the disappointment are seen as: a global economic downturn, the EU was experiencing internal disagreements over the nature of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and also the US was unable to participate- The reason why...I found this both hilarious and embarrassing- the US sent a delegation saying that now Obama has been elected the US will finally be able to act but the Bush regime is still in power- basically they said- hold on- the US is coming- just wait till Bush is gone.

Major accomplishments:

1- Made Adaptation Fund operational- Funds can now be disbursed

2- Funds can now be disbursed using a 2% levy on carbon trading under the UN Clean Development Mechanism (3% was asked and MDC denied the increase)

3-Progress on how environment-friendly technology can be transferred to developing countries

4-Agreement that deforestation needs to be reduced- (sinks to be increased)

5- Recognition that the situation is quite urgent

V. COP15 Copenhagen- to be held this December

Hopes to:

1- To increase emission level reduction- understanding the Kyoto Protocol is now antiquated and inadequate.

2- Will hold major developing countries (i.e. Brazil, China and India) responsible- calling them to reduce emissions.

3- UNFCCC estimated annual cost of $40-170 billion dollars in Adaptation money- other reports are saying this is a gross under-estimation (costs could be 2x-3x higher).

4-LDC to undertake NAMAs (nationally appropriate mitigation Actions)- if an LDC increases NAMA projects they will become more eligible for monetary and technological support.

5- Figure out how much mitigation is needed globally- who is responsible and what will the costs be for developing countries

6- Adapation Issues- how to fund adaptation in developing countries, how much will be needed, how it will be raised and how it will be disbursed.

(More to come on COP15 when I read the treaty)

My Questions-

I am still unclear as to how the CER credit is turned into cash- how does a company take a CER it has earned from investing in a LDC Green carbon cutting technology/project and then apply that credit?

"Such CDM-approved projects are assigned one “carbon emission reduction” credit (CER) for every tonne of greenhouse gas they save. CERs in turn can be sold on one of several international carbon exchanges — for instance, to a steel company in Germany, a cement factory in Sweden or a power plant in the UK, to help those countries meet their emissions-reduction requirements." (link 1)

How is the AF funded by a 2% levy on carbon trading under the UN Clean Development Mechanism? How does the Levy work? Who does it affect? I think it is a tax on the sale of CER generated from CDM projects- that are then put into the AF- in order to be distributed to MVCs.....

Links:

1- http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol22no2/222-green-cash.html

2- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7781022.stm

3- http://www.globalissues.org/article/771/cop14-poznan-climate-conference

4- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4269921.stm

5- http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=COP14

6- http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50190/story.htm

7- http://www.iied.org/climate-change/key-issues/evaluating-adaptation/climate-change-media-partnership

8- http://www.iied.org/climate-change/key-issues/economics-and-equity-adaptation/costs-adapting-climate-change-significantly-under-estimated

9- http://www.iied.org/climate-change/key-issues/climate-negotiations-capacity-building/climate-basics

10- http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/the-cost-of-adapting-to-climate-change/?scp=2&sq=climate%20change&st=cse

11- http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/green-groups-offer-a-mock-climate-treaty/