Up in the Air

By Bill Polits

As reported by Tom Cortina, Executive Director of the Halon Alternatives Research Corporation (HARC), the US State Department held a briefing last week to discuss the results of December’s Copenhagen climate summit. The briefing was hosted by Jonathan Pershing, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change.

Pershing said that despite what was being reported in the press, the US had achieved many of its goals going into Copenhagen. These achievements are documented in the current version of the Copenhagen Accord. He broke down his presentation into what was “good” about the negotiations and what was “bad”:

Good:

• • The process moving forward is based on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) recommendation to limit warming to two degrees Celsius.

• • 30 countries from both developed and developing regions - including the US, China and India - associated themselves with the Accord. These countries are expected to propose what actions they propose to take by the end of February.

• • Workable guidelines for transparency in the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of national actions toward the have been established for developed and developing countries.

• • Significant movement on technology transfer, adaptation to climate change and deforestation were achieved and decisions should be finalized at the next negotiating session.

• • Commitments for public and private financial assistance to developing countries to the tune of $100 billion, with an initial commitment of $10 billion/year for the first 3 years.

• • Review of the Copenhagen Accord in 2015 based on the latest science.

• • The US has gained some credibility and standing in international negotiations after eight years of not participating seriously.

Bad:

• • The UNFCCC process almost collapsed in Copenhagen. The Accord was negotiated by a small group of heads of state that were present on the last day.

• • The UNFCCC’s consensus process no longer works. Efforts to move forward were repeatedly stymied by a small group of countries. Future negotiations may, instead of an open forum of many nations, be limited to agreements between individual nations.

• • An agreement for a worldwide target of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 was blocked by China.

• • Though the Copenhagen Accord is a separate process, developing countries are clinging to the Kyoto Protocol process until they feel they receive adequate commitments from developed countries for the post-2012 period under the Copenhagen Accord or whatever separate process may emerge. Efforts must be made to unite behind a single process or treaty.