Takeaways from the Bonn Conference - CoP 23 - II

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What is the issue?

Despite some notable positive outcomes, the CoP 23 in Bonn, Germany has left unaddressed certain key areas of contention including financial support, loss and damage, and fossil fuel use.

What are the continuing contentions?

• Loss and Damage - In Warsaw, Poland, COP-19, 2013 established the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.
• This was in relation with the key obligations to be fulfilled by big emitters for the economic and non-economic losses of climate change.
• It intended at addressing the destruction likely from climate change, including extreme events (such as severe storms) and slow-onset events (such as sea-level rise).
• The Paris Agreement also recognises loss and damage and calls for enhanced action and support from the parties.
• However, in CoP 23, loss and damage was not included in the agenda for the Paris rule book.
• The rule book intends to provide operational guidance for fulfilling the ambition of the Paris Agreement and providing clarity on countries’ efforts to reach the global goal.
• It has to be finalised by 2018, according to the Paris Agreement's timeline.
• There are no funds yet on loss and damage and the discussion on this has been postponed to 2018.
• This was rightly a big bone of contention with poor and developing economies.
• Finance and Technology - Another aspect of support from rich countries is about providing finance, technology, and building capacity for poorer countries.
• This is intended both to protect themselves from the effects of climate change and to help them move along a low-carbon pathway.
• Without these support means for implementation, the targets set by each country in Paris are hard to achieve.
• The earlier promise of $100 billion each year by 2020 into the Green Climate Fund has also not seen much inflow to meet the goal.
• Sadly, COP-23 did not result in any substantial agreements on financial support.
• Important decisions on the key issue of finance were moved forward to be discussed at the next meeting to be held in Katowice, Poland in 2018.
• Emissions - The science on climate change has not been given focus in CoP 23.
• Greenhouse gas emissions appeared to have stabilised for the past few years, probably due to some economic reasons.
• However, emissions rose by 2 % in 2017 perhaps due to additional electricity drawn from coal power plants in China.
• The key question of when coal will be phased out globally has gone unaddressed in the meeting.
• Clearly, greater focus on bringing down fossil fuels use is needed, for the Paris Agreement to be successful.

Source: The Hindu