News & Press
Paris builds recognition for Human Rights obligations in climate action
HR -Protect Human Rights in all climate actionsIn Paris, governments recognized the interconnectivity of climate change and human rights. With a detailed preambular language that specifies that Parties, when taking action to address climate change, have to respect, promote and consider respective human rights obligations, the Paris agreement sets the foundation to make the new sustainable development mechanism accountable to human rights obligations.
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Climate finance agreed in Paris will not put the world onto a 1.5 °C pathway
Paris did not come up with a decision to mobilise trillions needed to put the world on a 1.5 C pathway. Developed countries will continue to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance. However, the financial provisions are weak, with most relevant points shoved into decisions.
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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.
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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.
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CDM Board to discuss human rights safeguards
Following numerous incidents of human rights violations related to CDM projects, the CDM Board will, for the first time, discuss options to address these concerns at its next meeting starting on 12 October. It will also discuss recommendations to overhaul the CDM’s local stakeholder consultation rules, including a requirement that projects must repeat consultations if they have not been carried out in line with national laws.
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UN Sustainable Development Summit paves road to Paris
The adoption of the new universal sustainable development goals (SDGs) has kicked-off a set of government actions to achieve a clean and prosperous future. Two major polluters, the US and China, announced a joint vision on climate change. China, UK and France ramped up climate finance to $17.5 billion.
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UN body launches tender to buy carbon offsets, excludes substandard projects from eligibility
Last week, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) closed a tender to buy 350.000 carbon credits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). According to the Invitation to Bid (ITB), offset credits must meet high quality requirements to be eligible. Quality criteria exclude coal, HFC-23 and large hydro projects that do not comply with additional quality assessments and favour projects that demonstrate improvements to the health, safety and welfare of people and especially women living near the projects.
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UN launches new platform to offer stranded CDM carbon offsets
As part of the climate week in New York, the UN launched the “Go Climate Neutral Now” initiative- a new online platform to purchase carbon offsets generated by its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The initiative attempts to boost demand for CDM credits on the voluntary carbon market and for the aviation sector but fails to dodge the sale of bogus carbon offsets.
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Uncertainty over Barro Blanco’s CDM approval
On the first of September tensions in Panama heightened when heavy machinery moved very close to the Ngöbe-Bugle Comarca to complete the highly contested Barro Blanco hydro dam, which is registered under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism. This was preceded by the forceful eviction of indigenous people camping next to the construction area by the national police. In response to a letter sent by Panamanian civil society groups, the CDM Board has now reminded Panama about its right to withdraw approval for the project, “if it deems appropriate”.
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New study adds pressure on UN climate talks to address hot air carbon credits
A new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) finds that bogus carbon offsets issued under the Kyoto Protocols’ Joint Implementation (JI) offsetting mechanism to date have increased global emissions by 600 million tonnes CO2 to date. The study came timely ahead of the ongoing round of climate talks in Bonn, concluding tomorrow, where countries need to work ensure that the new Paris climate treaty is not undermined, as Kyoto was, by hot air carbon credits.
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