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dedicated towards mitigation and adaptation projects in developing
he technical language and huge volume of acronyms can countries. Disagreement focuses on how much climate fnance should
make following climate change negotiations challenging. come from ‘new and additional’ sources of money, rather than existing
TLouisa Casson and Jamie Peters from the UK Youth development aid, as part of rich countries’ 2010 pledge to provide poor
Climate Coalition (UKYCC) have dissected the jargon so you too
can understand what on earth (in brackets) is going on. nations with $100bn each year by 2020 via the Green Climate Fund.
GHGs: The increase of man-made greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere like carbon dioxide and methane cause the heating up of
ADP: This is the second COP to convene the Ad Hoc Working the planet. Global temperature rise causes a number of climate change
Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. The Durban impacts, such as melting of the polar ice caps, sea level rise and
Platform for short has discussions split between two main areas: desertifcation.
Workstream 1 (WS1) focusing on a 2015 global climate deal and
Workstream 2 (WS2) negotiating pre-2020 action to close the ‘emissions HFCs: In June, despite a lack of progress at the UN’s intersessional
gap’ between promised action and the need to avoid tipping points. meeting in Bonn, a deal between China and America was struck outside
the UNFCCC talks to phase out hydrofuorocarbons - which some
Bottom-up vs top-down: As 2015 and the deadline scientists predicted could be responsible for at least 20% of global
for a global deal gets closer, debate around the architecture of the atmospheric warming by 2050 if action was not taken to limit them.
deal are heating up between proposals for a ‘bottom-up’ approach of
countries making their own non-binding voluntary targets to reduce IPCC AR5: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
carbon emissions (currently being promoted by the USA) and a more is currently releasing its 5th Report (AR5), with the results of the frst
‘top-down’ method where a common global goal for reducing emissions working group published in September. The next parts of the report will
will be agreed and then divided fairly between nations. be released in March, April and October 2014. The most authoritative
scientifc assessments on climate change, which have been agreed
CBDR-RC: Common But Differentiated Responsibilities is a unanimously by the world’s governments, ends the debate over whether
fundamental principle of the Convention, meaning all countries must climate change is happening due to human activity and shifts the
contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions but recognising that question to what governments should do to address the growing crisis
industrialised and developed states can be expected to do more due to and prevent catastrophic warming. The report makes clear that a rapid
their historical responsibility for greater emissions - and their Respective reduction of greenhouse pollution will help the world avert the worst of
Capabilities which put them in a better place to cut their emissions and climate change, but without swift and signifcant strategies to reduce
help developing countries to adapt. our carbon emissions, global temperatures by the end of the century
are likely to exceed the 2 degree limit agreed by world leaders.
Divestment: Civil society campaigns to get institutions such
as universities and local authorities to divest their money from fossil Joint Implementation (JI): As part of the Kyoto
fuels are gaining momentum, particularly in North America and Europe. Protocol, Joint Implementation allows industrialised nations to carry
The impact this has on the UNFCCC process will be interesting, out emissions reductions in another industrialised country and count
showing alternatives venues for change. it under their own reduction in emissions. The Polish presidency
of COP19 has outlined its expectation to reach a decision on the
Equity: Discussions around equity have become a key part continuation of JI in Warsaw.
of the negotiations for a global climate deal. Equity is about each
nation feeling they are taking actions that are appropriate to their Kyoto Protocol (KP): The Kyoto Protocol remains the
responsibilities for emissions reductions, and so interpretations of only legally-binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
CBDR-RC are key in these discussions. There are fears that theoretical achieved by the UNFCCC. It covers most of the countries considered
discussions around equity may be used to delay progress in the to be developed or industrialised in 1992, known as ‘Annex I’ countries.
talks, and the focus is now shifting to how countries can use these 2013 is the frst year of its second commitment period (CP2), to which
discussions to speed up climate action on a fair basis. Youth are also the USA, Canada, Russia, New Zealand and Japan did not sign up.
calling for intergenerational equity to be recognised in the talks.
Loss and Damage: After emerging as a controversial
Finance: Hailed as a ‘fnance COP’, the Polish presidency are subject at last year’s conference in Doha, a package for the provision of
hoping to reach a common understanding of climate fnance in Warsaw. compensation for climate change impacts is on the agenda for Warsaw.
This means the Annex II countries who are responsible for providing Controversy arises from the diffculty in attributing impacts directly to
climate fnance clarifying what money will count as climate fnance, climate change and the lack of action on climate fnance in general. A

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