28 October 2015, The guardian, Paris climate deal will not include global carbon price, says UN climate chief. Christiana Figueres tells investor event that a climate deal to be agreed in Paris in December will not be able to come up with a global carbon price. A climate change deal to be agreed in Paris in December will not be able to come up with a global carbon price, the United Nations’ climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said on Tuesday. Big multinational companies and investors, and most recently oil majors, have called for a global carbon price to help spur investments in low-carbon energy. A global carbon price would help to create an incentive for operators of power plants and factories to switch to cleaner fuels such as gas or to buy more energy-efficient equipment. When the European Union launched a carbon trading scheme in 2005 there were expectations this would eventually lead to a global carbon scheme by 2020 worth around $2 trillion. But the difficulties of bringing together different carbon schemes from countries around the world means the goal of a global carbon price remains elusive. Read More here
Tag Archives: UNFCCC
28 October 2015, The Guardian, World leaders to attend Paris climate summit. At least 80 world leaders, including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, David Cameron and Narendra Modi, will join talks aiming to forge a new global climate deal. Diplomats endorsed the outlines of the proposed deal in Bonn on Friday after five days of fraught negotiation that highlighted just how much work remains to be done in Paris. The aim is to unite all the world’s nations in a single agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping warming at 2C over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. For the opening day on 30 November, “we have already received 80 confirmations, including from the presidents of the United States and China, and the Indian prime minister,” French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, told journalists in Paris on Tuesday.The leaders of Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Canada have also accepted, he said. The last attempt at sealing a global climate pact, in 2009, saw about 110 world leaders descend on a UN summit in Copenhagen for the two final days, only to leave frustrated when the negotiations collapsed. “Together with president Francois Hollande, we decided to invite heads of state to attend the first day and not the end as in Copenhagen,” said Fabius. This had been partly to blame for the failure, he said, “as the negotiators were waiting for heads of state to negotiate, and the heads of state failed to resolve anything.” Read More here
26 October 2015, Climate News Network, Bonn climate talks fail to cut rich-poor divide. Negotiations to smooth the way towards a new global agreement on tackling climate change ended without closing deep rifts between developed and developing countries. The world is hoping for a positive outcome at theUN climate change conference in Paris in early December to head off potentially catastrophic climate change. Judged by the outcome of a five-daypreparatory meeting in Bonn, the outlook is not good. Once again, delegates from around the world argued about cash, with developing and poorer countries accusing wealthier nations of reneging on promises to provide more money to fight a warming climate and adapt to climate change. The developing world argues that many poorer countries are already feeling the effects of climate change – caused mainly by the greenhouse gas emissions of the richer nations. Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, from South Africa, speaking on behalf of more than 130 developing countries, including China, told delegates at the talks in Germany that rich countries had be ready to provide far more financial assistance to help poorer nations, which were already having to deal with climate change. Read More here
26 October 2015, Carbon Brief, Old battlelines resurface as countries meet for last time ahead of Paris climate summit. Countries have completed the last round of negotiations before a landmark meeting in Paris in December, where they have agreed to sign a new UN agreement on climate change. Despite the urgency, the week produced little consensus, with issues such as finance proving fractious till the end. Nonetheless, parties produced a new draft text, which will form the basis of the final negotiations in Paris. The document does little to narrow down the options for the final deal, but crystallizes the key debates that negotiators and ministers will attempt to resolve in just over a month’s time. Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UNFCCC, told the Chatham House climate conference in London today that the new text was “now party owned” and, as a result, was “not biased, but balanced”. Read More here