{"id":26612,"date":"2015-02-18T21:34:41","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T10:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=26612"},"modified":"2019-04-16T13:31:23","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T03:31:23","slug":"will-australia-be-a-spoiler-or-lifter-for-paris2015-global-climate-agreement-asks-takvera-auspol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/will-australia-be-a-spoiler-or-lifter-for-paris2015-global-climate-agreement-asks-takvera-auspol\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Australia be a spoiler or lifter for #Paris2015 global #climate agreement? asks @Takvera #Auspol"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UNFCCC<\/a>

UNFCCC Executive Secretary briefs the press on closing day of ADP Geneva Climate Change Conference Source: UNFCCC<\/a> Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\nThe Geneva negotiating text provides hope for a global climate agreement in the lead up to the United Nations Paris climate negotiations in December 2015.<\/p>\n

The Paris climate talks are a significant landmark: whether the international community will negotiate an effective agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and reduce global warming, or allow rising business as usual emissions to cause economic and civilisation disruption due to increasing severity of extreme weather events and rising temperatures.<\/p>\n

You just need to look around at the climate impacts we are seeing in Australia whether it is in the bushfires in South Australia<\/a>, heatwaves in Melbourne<\/a>, or the increase in jellyfish blooms in North Queensland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The window of opportunity for limiting warming on a global basis to a 2C rise above pre-industrial levels is quickly closing. This is our last and best chance to limit the damage and inter-generational theft that climate change will inflict on present and future generations.<\/p>\n

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"Paris 2015 is perhaps last chance before we say that the 2-degree target will be almost impossible to reach,\u201d Birol http:\/\/t.co\/2kJTg7T8GF<\/a><\/p>\n

— John Englart EAM (@takvera) November 4, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I announced late December 2014 my intention of attending and reporting on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Paris in December 2015. I have been following the climate science, and climate negotiations for some 10 years now from behind my computer screen at home. <\/p>\n

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My goals for 2015: attend #COP21<\/a> Paris write > 100 climate posts attend @morelandcouncil<\/a> Local action @camoreland<\/a> http:\/\/t.co\/h6AC8CfEcm<\/a><\/p>\n

— John Englart EAM (@takvera) January 1, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is time for me to seriously start the preparations for my itinerary to France. I intend to report live from the climate negotiations, via twitter, facebook and blog reports to nofibs.com.au<\/a>, Indymedia Australia<\/a> and my local climate action group, Climate Action Moreland<\/a>. I am ameliorating the aircraft emissions by two measures: incorporating attendance at the UN climate conference in a longer much overdue holiday, and also planting more trees like at this local event in Fawkner<\/a> in 2014 organised by the Friends of Merri Creek and Merri Creek Management Committee.<\/p>\n

I will be going with my teenage daughter who will also help me blog the event and provide a teen perspective, a voice for the future. I hope to report in particular on Australia’s negotiating position as part of covering this event. See end of article in how you can support John through crowdfunding<\/a> to cover some of his expenses.<\/p>\n

Australia opaque on UN climate commitment targets<\/h3>\n

Australia still stands out as a potential spoiler and disrupter to the neogiation of a globally binding international climate treaty. At the Lima negotiations in December 2014 Australia was awarded the \u2018Colossal Fossil\u2019 award as the worst performer on climate change action<\/a> globally for 2014. That is how far we have sunk in terms of climate policy, where even countries like Saudi Arabia and Canada are now seen to be doing more than Australia.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop failed to deliver any change in Australia’s position at the one day UN Climate summit<\/a> in New York in September 2014 while 400,000 people marched in the streets of New York<\/a> and more in Australia. <\/p>\n

Her remarks after President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address in January this year were both evasive and untruthful<\/a> on Australia’s climate action target.<\/p>\n

The Abbott Government has continued with the minimal emissions reduction target of 5 per cent reduction on 2000 levels by 2020, but has not funded their Direct Action Climate Policy to achieve this target while our electricity emissions set to soar<\/a> since carbon pricing was abolished. The Climate Change Authority assessed in March 2014 that a reasonable target given the level of international action at that stage was a 19% emissions cut target by 2020<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Since then, there has been a major agreement between USA and China regarding peaking of China’s emissions<\/a>. While there is no US-India deal on climate change<\/a>, India and the US did agree on some energy deals<\/a> including support for India’s plans to roll out 100GW of solar power<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have called for new country targets (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) to be submitted by the end of March 2015<\/a> so that the negotiations in Paris can start from a much higher level.<\/p>\n

There is pronounced silence from the Australian Government on our negotiating targets.<\/p>\n

Sliver of hope: Paris negotiating text finalised in Geneva<\/h3>\n

The UNFCCC meeting in Geneva in February has consolidated the negotiation text for a climate agreement in Paris. The negotiating text<\/a> is available for download as a PDF from the UNFCCC site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely encouraged by the constructive spirit and the speed at which negotiators have worked during the past week,\u201d said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC). \u201cWe now have a formal negotiating text, which contains the views and concerns of all countries. The Lima Draft has now been transformed into the negotiating text and enjoys the full ownership of all countries,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Trust building was a paramount achievement of the Geneva talks allowing the parties to capture all viewpoints in the negotiating text and leaving streamlining to future sessions, explained Figueres in the video of the press conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The document covers a wide range of concerns and detailed outcomes for the new agreement on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity-building. <\/p>\n

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Pleased that spirit of #COP20<\/a> in Lima has transformed into spirit of Geneva en route to #Paris2015<\/a> http:\/\/t.co\/Kz2qDZb247<\/a> #ADP2015<\/a> #COP21<\/a><\/p>\n

— Christiana Figueres (@CFigueres) February 13, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe text was constructed in full transparency. This means that although it has become longer, countries are now fully aware of each other\u2019s positions,\u201d Ms. Figueres said. The negotiating text and all targets that have been submitted by March will be circulated to all 194 countries as the basis for further refining a global agreement for signing off in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fulfills the internationally-accepted timetable for reaching a possible treaty because it alerts capitals to the fact that a legal instrument could be adopted in Paris. It does not, however, set this possibility in stone \u2013 it merely opens the door for this possibility. As for the legal nature of the agreement, this will only be clarified later in the year,\u201d Ms. Figueres explained. <\/p>\n

A blog post by Achala C Abeysinghe at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) articulates the reasons to be hopeful<\/a> that the 86 page Geneva negotiating text offers the genuine possibility of an inclusive and fair deal for all countries, including the developing countries. She articulates that the negotiating text contains seven key elements including: <\/p>\n