03 January, 2012

CSE at CoP-16, Cancun

Cancun draft pleases all, except a belligerent Bolivia! The deal circumvents all the contentious issues, erases historical debts, avoids legally binding global emission targets for wealthy nations, leaves the thorn of IPR in technology transfer mechanism for Durban CoP17 among others. As CSE had warned, Cancun turned out to be compromises of epic proportions for the poorer countries, without any substantive returns from the developed nations. Lest Development and Millenium Development Goals be forgotten. Politics, surely, has triumphed over science.

09 December, 2011

Jeez, Mr.Stern: 2 degree C target is just a guidepost?

Durban, December 7: Transcript of the US press briefing by Todd Stern, Durban, December 7, 2011 Todd Stern: Negotiations are continuing...Both Kyoto and what happens in the future, questions and the issues relating to implementation of Cancun Agreement... Let me take your questions.

08 December, 2011

Factsheet: The Cancun Conference of Parties

Was the Cancun CoP successful? What happened between Copenhagen and Cancun, that made countries vulnerable to climate change give their nod to the Cancun Agreement Read more

08 December, 2011

Of stances, tactics and country positions

November 28, 2011, Durban: Key players at the climate negotiations in Durban presented a preview of their tactics which they might adopt over the next 14 days. On the opening day of CoP17, China made it clear that without finance and technology transfer on the table, the talks were doomed. The US on its part wanted the Cancun Agreement, signed last year, to be operationalised. The European Union stuck to its recent demand that a solution to global warming is only possible if emerging economies like China and India take emission reduction targets.

08 December, 2011

The Verbal Battle of Durban

Durban, December 6: The verbal battle of Durban was fought in a plenary at the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre. It was fought on December 5, 2011, 10:00 am to 11:30 am. Here is a no-holds barred version of the battle. We apologise for this rather lengthy posting. It was, after all, a verbal battle. If you only want to know how India weighed in, rhetorical mace and all, scroll to the last bit. Thanks for your patience. Here goes:

31 December, 2010

Deal won, stakes lost

Last fortnight we discussed the clandestine endgame afoot at Cancun to change the framework of the climate change negotiations to suit big and powerful polluters. Since then Cancun has concluded and a deal, in the form of a spate of agreements, has been gavelled into existence by the chair. Commentators and climate activists in the Western world are ecstatic. Even the critics say pragmatism has worked and the world has taken a small step ahead in its battle to fight emissions that determine its growth.

06 December, 2010

Cancun musing

I have reached Cancun few hours’ back to attend the 16th Conference of Parties (CoP-16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and have been greeted with news that can only be characterised as bad or worse.

Cop 16