With the President of COP urging everyone to be on time (the session started 20 minutes late), day 3 of the COP 18 seems to have had more energy and substance than the initial days and the parties were eager to get their opinions heard.
“IPCC’s voice may not be loud as it once was, but it is clearer” said Dr Rajendra Pachauri as he addressed the COP. During his talk, he gave a sneak preview of the Fifth Assessment Report wherein we could expect to see more social science aspects (WG3), improved knowledge on ice sheets and also a whole section on urban planning and its role in adaptation and mitigation.
Another interesting development was the announcement of Poland as the host of the next COP. Voting for Qatar as a COP destination has set the precedent for some rather interesting choices of hosts it would seem. Poland is considered as one of the most Carbon inefficient economies in the EU and the decision certainly is bound to kick up some debate.
Owing to the agenda, the topics that were discussed rather keenly were the matters relating to finance, gender quality in the UNFCCC and the CDM mechanisms. Swaziland on behalf of the African group raised the issue relating to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as being “ an empty purse and hoped it will be filled”, this sentiment was seen to resonate across many developing nations with the SIDS representative stating that “even the administrative fund for the GCF is not yet covered”.
Gender equality in UNFCCC and its bodies was raised with great fervour by the EU, which also proposed to seek an urgent resolution to raise the participation of women in climate change decisions nationally and internationally. This was supported by all in the COP including the US whose voiced was heard for the first time in the meeting. With parties raising the fact of COP presidents have been women the last 3 times, HE Al Attiyah joked that he had his work cut out to do justice to the post.
Further to the address by the chair of the CDM EB, many LDCs and developing nations expressed the need for the COP to resolve matters relating to high transaction costs and low CER trade price. The general notion was that these countries were finding it hard to attract investors and also see value from the completed projects. India criticized the Annex 1 parties for their lack of ambition and thus causing the carbon markets to slide and reiterated a need for dedicated funds to stabilize the costs.
Discussions on the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol heard EU loudly stating “count us in” and also that it was willing to have a seamless transition into the 2nd period. EU ignoring the stipulated time allotment went onto to discourse its reaffirmation towards the commitment and its objective of departing Doha with a ratifiable amendment.
With the Arctic reaching its lowest sea ice extent this year (WMO report) and the year so far being the 9th warmest on record from the 1850, we can only hope the slow cranking machine that is the COP will yield some concrete positive outcomes.
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