The essentials in Copenhagen

Rather than getting every small detail of a new global climate treaty done in Copenhagen, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer hopes the conference will reach agreements on four political essentials.

Michael von Bülow16/03/2009 10:30

The UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December this year may not yield a new global climate treaty with every minor detail in place. But hopefully it will close with agreements on four political essentials, thereby creating a clarity the world – not least the financially struck business world – needs.

The wish for clarity is expressed by Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in an interview with Environment & Energy Publishing (E&E). According to Yvo de Boer, the four essentials calling for an international agreement in Copenhagen are:

1. How much are the industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?

2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions?

3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?

4. How is that money going to be managed?

“If Copenhagen can deliver on those four points I’d be happy,” says Yvo de Boer.

He sees a need to get something signed and agreed in Copenhagen, but he thinks it will be very difficult to get every final, small detail of a whole new treaty done. The new climate treaty will be replacing the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.

The Kyoto Protocol which sets binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has been signed and ratified by 184 parties of the UN Climate Convention. One notable exception is the United States, and Yvo de Boer is “really happy” to see the US back in the international climate change process and that the US is also engaging domestically in the process.

“My big lesson from the Kyoto era is that it's really important that the government delegation that represents the United States is in close touch with the Senate, with the elected officials on what's acceptable and what's not,” says de Boer, and he adds:

“I think that a major shortcoming of Kyoto was that the official delegation came back with a treaty they knew was never going to make it through the Senate. And this time I have the feeling that the communication is much stronger, that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, through John Kerry, is really expressing strongly what they feel needs to be done in Copenhagen.”

Yvo de Boer thinks the Kyoto Protocol was rejected by the US for mainly two reasons. Firstly, because it did not involve action on the part of major developing countries. Secondly, because it was felt by the Bush administration that Kyoto would be harmful to the US economy.

Copenhagen will be a whole different scenario, and de Boer feels confident that President Barack Obama can successfully engage China and India and convince them to sign the next treaty.

“I think that Secretary of State Clinton's visit to Beijing was a really important and encouraging step to get us moving on that road,” says Yvo de Boer.

Asked about the global recession, de Boer thinks it will certainly have an impact on the negotiations in Copenhagen.

“You see already that investments in renewable energy projects are going down, partly because of the oil price going down and partly because of the economic activity going down,” he says.

But even though greenhouse gas emissions are expected to slow down as a result of shrinking industrial activities, de Boer does not believe it will lessen the pressure on countries to act and sign a new treaty.

“I get the impression talking to business people that they still want clarity from Copenhagen. If you're making investments now, for example in the energy sector, in power plants that are going to be around for the next 30 to 50 years, you can't really afford to keep waiting and waiting and waiting for governments to say where they're going to go on this issue.”

UN/DESA Policy Brief: Reaching a Climate Deal in Copenhagen

A new policy brief by Imran Habib Ahmad of the UN’s Development Policy & Analysis division draws the following conclusions:

* Conservative estimates peg total developing-country financing needs for mitigation and adaptation at about $250 billion per year. This would be on the order of 0.5 to 1 per cent of world gross product by 2030;
* Current available bilateral and multi-lateral aid is in the order of $10-20 billion, with perhaps $5 billion more in the pike from current proposals;
* Funding for adaptation and mitigation programs must not be voluntary but tied to agreed long-term commitments, based e.g. on pro rata mechanisms (such as levied percentages of financial flows, mandatory contributions in relation to GDP). Specific options should be considered include include taxes on capital flows or on international transport, energy use or emissions, or volumes of transactions in carbon markets, and permit auctioning.

Prepared by:

Imran Habib Ahmad (UN-DESA) and

JJohannes (Hans) B. Opschoor

(Institute of Social Studies, the Hague and member of the United Nations Committee for Development Policy)

For further information please contact:

Imran Habib Ahmad,

Senior Economic Affairs Officer

Development Policy and Analysis Division,

Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Rm. DC2-2024

United Nations, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 212 963-4687 • Fax: +1 212 963-1061

e-mail: ahmad33@un.org • website: http://www.un.org/esa/policy

UNDESA High-Level Meeting on Climate Change, Technology Development and Transfer Develops Final Statement

23 October 2009: The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the Government of India convened a high-level meeting on climate change, technology development and transfer in New Delhi, India, from 22-23 October 2009.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang opened the meeting, noting that it would build on a similar conference that convened in Beijing, China, in 2008, and suggesting that it could “send a clear message to Copenhagen that there is a way forward on technology cooperation and technology sharing.”

Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, outlined five essential components for an agreement in Copenhagen: enhanced action to assist the most vulnerable and the poorest in adapting to the impacts of climate change; ambitious emission reduction targets for all industrialized countries on an individual basis; nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing countries to limit the growth of their emissions, while safeguarding economic growth and sustainable development, with the necessary support; significantly scaled-up financial and technological resources; and an equitable governance structure to guide financial resources. He said the decision on technology would need to provide clarity on: who pays and how cost is shared; what the funding will be used for; and how the funding will be channeled towards the desired result. He also identified elements that could be included in a mechanism for technology development and transfer under the UNFCCC.

The final statement from the meeting indicates participants “believe that there is an urgent need to accelerate the large scale global deployment of environmentally-sound and climate-friendly technologies and to minimize the time lag between their initial development, transfer and deployment particularly in the developing countries,” and suggests creating centres or networks of centres to stimulate deployment of technologies. [UNFCCC Executive Secretary’s statement] [Meeting website] [Final statement]