The impacts of global warming are already being felt. If we don’t act now, the climate crisis will become much worse, dramatically impacting people around the world and causing irreversible damage to the environment. Friends of the Earth believes we can and must solve this crisis and do so in an equitable and responsible way, but the path ahead is not easy. It will require bold leadership and a broad transformation of our society.
Friends of the Earth is working for aggressive legislation in the United States that quickly reduces -- and eventually ends -- our country's emissions of heat-trapping gasses. We are also participating in Friends of the Earth International's efforts to bring the international community together behind a strong global climate agreement, without which this problem cannot be solved.
Read the latest news and updates from our Global Warming campaign:
Press at the entrance to the climate convention’s media center here were treated this morning to an unexpected press conference on the so-called Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the world’s biggest carbon offsets market. In theory, the CDM allows industrialized countries to support projects that decrease emissions in developing countries and then use the resulting emissions reduction credits towards their own reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
For many years, developing country parties have expressed deep frustration and disappointment with the Global Environment Facility – otherwise known as the GEF. The G77 and China (representing over 130 developing countries) have been crystal clear that the GEF should not be designated as the permanent financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, and it is developing countries which the GEF is supposed to urgently serve. Yet developed countries over and over again express their support for the GEF, despite the severe (yet politely and diplomatically delivered) criticism of the GEF spoken just seconds earlier by a developing country representative.
On Tuesday, Friends of the Earth International released the report, REDD myths: A critical review of proposed mechanisms to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries. I spoke at a panel event to release the publication, together with indigenous and NGO representatives from five continents. All of the panelists raised serious concerns about the potential risks of inadequate mechanisms to address deforestation.
As talks continue, developing country negotiators reminded rich, industrialized countries on Tuesday of the big picture: we undeniably have to reduce unsustainable consumption to address the climate crisis. Unfortunately, Japan appears to not really understand the scale of the problem we are facing. Instead of meaningfully addressing the need to radically decarbonize our economy and transition away from the destructive patterns of consumption, the Japanese delegate focused instead on superficial changes in individual behavior, like taking fewer showers. Seriously, that’s what he said.
As we face the greatest ecological crisis, perhaps ever, Japan is still talking about the role of taking a short shower instead of a bath. If this is really lens through which developed countries see these negotiations, we’ve got a real problem. As Bernaditas Muller, lead delegate of the Philippines and spokesperson for the G77+China (the group of developing countries), stated later, while Japan is talking about taking fewer showers, how many people don’t even have access to drinking water? Even worse, how many people see the limited water supply may have in peril due the serious impacts of climate change?
Karen Orenstein, International Finance Coordinator, and Kate Horner, International Climate and Energy Campaigner, report from Poznan, Poland, where they are working to influence the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
We arrived this past weekend in Poznan, Poland to attend the 14th annual meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also known as the 14th Conference of Parties. Official representatives – or “delegates” – from just about every country in the world are here for the next two weeks. In total, there are almost 11,000 registered participants, including many hundreds of NGO activists. While numerous activists are following negotiations on the inside, some are protesting in the streets outside of the convention center. Friends of the Earth works both inside monitoring the negotiations and outside to coordinate support for strong action.
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the world’s biggest carbon offsets market. In theory, the CDM allows industrialized countries to support projects that decrease emissions in developing countries and then use the resulting emissions reduction credits towards their own reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Industrialized countries supported the establishment of the CDM because it would provide them with flexibility in how they can meet their Kyoto targets, particularly if domestic reductions turn out to be more costly than expected. Developing countries supported the CDM because they would receive funds for "sustainable development."
To effectively address climate change, the United States needs robust domestic emissions reduction targets and policies that send the correct signals to change industry behavior and produce real emissions reductions. The implementation of a cap and trade program is viewed by many as a way to use the market to achieve these reductions. However, over-reliance on a cap-and-trade program to solve climate change raises a number of concerns, particularly in terms of the monitoring, evaluation, and verification of carbon credits in a global market. Unfortunately, the federal cap and trade proposals put forth so far would create a system that poses almost identical challenges as those in the mortgage-lending industry.
While President Obama's climate negotiators converge in official talks at the convention, Friends of the Earth staff members Nick Berning, Kate Horner, Karen Orenstein and Elizabeth Bast will be reporting in a variety of ways on what's happening both inside and outside those talks.
Check back here in December for videos, notes and ways you can become involved!
Agreement was reached and the conference ended this afternoon around 5:30 pm -- a full day late.
Never in my life have I seen such a display of political bullying as the United States undertook over the two weeks of this conference. The U.S. delegation, representing the richest and most capable country in the world, gutted just about everything of meaning from the roadmap going forward to tackle global climate change. For much of the last day, the U.S. negotiators continued to nitpick -- in plenary, with all the nations present and in front of outside observers. The delegation persisted in blocking language that India and Bangladesh spoke to on behalf of developing countries, and that many understood had been agreed to the previous night.
Halfway through the night Thursday -- well after normal work hours -- the U.S. delegation put out a proposal designed to stall the negotiations. It wasn't just your average difficult negotiating point. They actually threatened to make the whole discussion of reducing greenhouse gas emissions voluntary for all countries. Meaning, the over 30 countries that have already agreed to emissions reductions under the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol would go back to voluntary emissions targets. Meaning, there would be no targets at all for emissions reductions from industrialized countries. Meaning, in all likelihood, the planet would cook - ugly.
