Bangkok climate summit: Nigeria, others inch forward in Paris agreement implementation

Amid growing calls for urgent and strong climate change action, the supplementary Bangkok climate change talks closed at the weekend with uneven progress on the guidelines to implement the Paris climate change agreement. Countries have been grappling with how to reflect the contributions and responsibilities of developed and developing countries given their different national circumstances.

Of key concern are items that relate to transparently and regularly communicating actions, as well as how to achieve full clarity on climate finance now and in the long-term.The provisions that countries are working towards operationalizing include increased action to deal with the impacts of climate change and increased and transparent support for developing country action in the form of finance, technology cooperation and capacity building.

Crucially, the provisions to be operationalised also include the goal of limiting global temperature increase this century to well below 2C, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5C through transparent and ambitious emission reductions. Civil society organisations acknowledged progress on the negotiating text, but insisted that substantive issues on finance and differentiation, among others, still hang in the balance.

The groups agreed that to reach an ambitious deal annual climate change conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland in December, which includes a strong rulebook, finance and stronger commitments to ambition, political leaders must talk to each in the next few months to infuse trust into climate discussions.

“We have fortunately avoided going off the cliff edge. Governments have empowered the co-chairs to turn the progress made so far into a more solid basis for negotiations in Poland. It is now vital for the co-chairs to change the course of the negotiations from diplomatic doldrums towards a win-win approach and craft middle ground options that the whole world can get behind at COP24,” Mohamed Adow, International Climate Lead, Christian Aid said.

For Climate Policy Lead, Oxfam, Tracy Carty, “the planet’s alarm bells are ringing; just this year we’ve endured deadly heatwaves and floods, devastating wildfires, and record high temperatures.  Unfortunately, climate negotiations are still taking baby steps when they should be sprinting towards solutions.

“Finance to help developing countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and to support poor communities vulnerable to extreme climate shocks remains a critical and unresolved issue. If developed country governments don’t step up by the time COP24 kicks off in December, they risk putting the Paris Agreement in jeopardy,” she added.
 
Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa disclosed, “In preparation for COP24, it will be critical to achieve balance across all issues. This is important because all parts of the regime need to function together in an inter-connected manner.

“The Paris Agreement strikes a delicate balance to bring all countries together. We must recognize that countries have different realities at home. They have different levels of economic and social development that lead to different national situations,” said Ms. Espinosa.“This needs to be reflected in the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement. This calls for a political solution, but time is running short. Leaders need to engage and help solve these issues well in advance of COP24,” she urged.