The Paris Agreement is a springboard for more climate action in Europe

The climate summit in Paris left many negotiators who had worked for days without sleep with a sense of relief. The Paris agreement marks a major step forward to averting a climate catastrophe. But as we are heading to a 3 degrees warmer world, far from the aspirational 1.5°C goal, we simply cannot afford to stand still. Now is the time to turn the global climate deal into a springboard for more climate action worldwide. And who better than ‘high ambition’ champion Europe to spearhead this movement from words to action?

Paris Treaty establishes new carbon trading mechanisms

Despite seemingly genuine fears amongst some negotiators that the role of carbon markets might not be mentioned in the final agreement, the Paris treaty created two different frameworks for market approaches that will be developed in detail over the next years.

Carbon Market Watch is looking for a dynamic and creative EU Policy Officer

Purpose of the position Carbon Market Watch is seeking a dynamic, experienced and creative EU Policy Officer to support Carbon Market Watch’s European climate policy work with particular focus on the EU’s 2030 climate framework. This is a new position based in Brussels to complement the existing Carbon Market Watch team. The EU Policy Officer …

Game Over For Hot Air?

Article submitted by Carbon Market Watch and published in issue #6 of ECO – the COP 21 NGO daily Newsletter  ECO understands that several Parties are trying to get the high score for the new video game CAPMAN–our cute climate superhero fighting against Hot Air villains. Today’s winners are five EU countries (Denmark, Germany, the …

Five EU countries cancel surplus Kyoto Protocol units

Paris, 4 December 2015. The Kyoto Protocol is currently suffering from an 11 gigatonne hot air loopholes that undermines its environmental effectiveness. In this context, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom today announced that they will cancel part of their pre-2020 surplus units (AAUs) under the Kyoto Protocol.

Perspectives from outside the room: UNFCCC Negotiations in Bonn and the lead up to Paris 2015

The October talks in Bonn had a shaky start after the G77 opposed the Co-Chairs’ minimalist draft text. Other Parties expressed unhappiness at the lack of options and issues they saw as missing. Through Monday, Parties were allowed to bring in, with “surgical precision”, issues they felt essential to include. This process has bolstered Parties’ ownership of the text, but the talk is of coming up with ‘bridging proposals’ rather than reaching actual agreements on sections of the text.

Parties will head to Paris with strong human rights language in the draft agreement

Last week in Bonn, several Parties showed again overwhelming support for the desire to keep human rights language in the Paris agreement. The draft text that will now be the basis for negotiations in Paris, includes strong references to human rights- especially in the operative part of the agreement. This is an important step to make sure that the new climate treaty will also deliver for the most marginalized and vulnerable people.

Carbon leakage myth buster

The concept of “carbon leakage” is a major area of discussion in the legislative proposal to revise the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for the post-2020 period. The Commission’s proposal continues the trend of awarding free allowances, effectively representing a financial subsidy of €160 billion, to heavy emitters without providing evidence for the need of such beneficial treatment. A new Carbon Market Watch policy brief “Carbon leakage myth buster” shows how certain manufacturing companies have profited from selling the free EU ETS allowances they were given and recommends how to avoid such windfall profits in the future.