NEWS: Human Rights in the Climate Negotiations: 3 questions asked but much left unanswered – #SB42

During the first half of June, climate negotiators converged in Bonn for two intense weeks of negotiations. With only 6 months left before the Paris COP-21 Conference, negotiations towards the 2015 climate agreement constituted the most important work on-going during this session. But many other key aspects of international climate policy were also on the agenda in Bonn. Throughout these two weeks, negotiators unfortunately made little progress on three main questions to address in relation to the integration of human rights in climate policies.

NEWS: NAMIGMA! – Unraveling the secrets of NAMAs (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions)

For many stakeholders working on climate mitigation, the emerging concept of NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions) remains an enigma. Carbon Market Watch’s upcoming webinar “What are NAMAs and how can civil society organisations benefit from them?” aims to open the door to the many unanswered questions on how NAMAs work and what is the role of public participation in order to empower civil society to contribute and gain from the process.

NEWS: Forestry offsets could turn EU’s 40% climate target into merely 35%

A new report from the Öko-Institut shows that the use of forestry offsets to replace efforts in other sectors would undermine the EU’s 2030 climate target by 5%. The legislative proposal for the land use sector that the European Commission is expected to present early next year should therefore uphold the environmental integrity of the EU’s 2030 climate target by treating the emissions and removals from our forests and soils completely separate from the efforts of other sectors.

NEWS: The Century of Survival

Pope Francis cautions against “carbon credits” as a quick and easy solution to avoid radical change and maintain excessive consumption of some countries and sectors. He is right, in that carbon offsetting and trading will not do the trick to keep us from using up the remaining global carbon budget. Ambition and global willingness to reduce our carbon impact remain the absolute priorities in this century of survival.

Paris climate talks add pressure to reconsider carbon leakage rules

A leaked European Commission document suggests that pollution subsidies to industry under the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme will increase to around €150 billion after 2020. The subsidy is under consideration because some industry sectors claim that the EU’s carbon market puts them at a competitive disadvantage, when in fact carbon pricing has been successfully introduced in many other regions as well. The proposal to shield industry from Europe’s main climate instrument sends the wrong signal ahead of the climate summit in Paris in December where countries are expected to sign a global climate agreement applying to all sectors and regions.

NEWS: Review of the CDM rules at the Bonn intersessions

Currently, parties to the UNFCCC are meeting in Bonn for a new round of climate negotiations. One of the topics that is on the table is the review of the Modalities and Procedures of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Parties are thereby discussing rather “light” issues and shy away from more conflicting topics. But, when turning a blind eye on the necessity for more controversial themes, such as the establishment of a grievance mechanism, the review of the Modalities and Procedures may fall behind its great potential to improve the CDM for the future.

SB42 – Bonn Negotiation

 Carbon Market Watch will be closely following the UNFCCC negotiations from Bonn, Germany. The Bonn UNFCCC session kicks off real negotiations on the text agreed in Geneva in February. Those elements of the text that are agreed by Parties will become parts of the Paris Protocol, which should be completed in December this year. The …

A summary of the Independent Complaints Mechanism’s findings on Barro Blanco and FMO-DEG management response

The Dutch and German development banks, FMO and DEG, each invested 25 US$ million in the Barro Blanco hydropower project in Panama. In May 2014, the Movimiento 10 de Abril (M-10), representing indigenous peoples directly affected by the project, with the support of Both ENDS and SOMO, filed the first complaint to the Independent Complaints …