Conference of the Parties (COP) Flashcards
United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
– Entered into force on 21 March 1994
– 198 countries that have ratified the Convention are called Parties to the Convention
– Ultimate aim: prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system
– Roots in the Rio Earth Summit (1992), with 2 more conventions intrinsically linked: Convention on Biological Diversity & the Convention to Combat Desertification
Conference of the Parties (COP)
– Supreme decision making body of the UNFCCC
– All members represented at the yearly COPs since COP 1 Berlin in 1995
– Tasks include:
* Review implementation of the Convention & any other legal instruments adopted
* Take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
Article 6 at the COP26 in Glasgow
- 31.10.-12.11. 2021 in Glasgow
- Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: international voluntary cooperation to meet nationally determined contributions (NDCs)
- @COP26 Glasgow: Rulebook Proposals for 6.2, 6.4, and 6.8
- Three types of international cooperation
– 6.2: Direct bilateral cooperation
– 6.4: Multilateral crediting mechanisms
– 6.8: Non market based approaches
COP26 Results on Article 6.2
- Direct bilateral cooperation
– Allows to trade emission reductions and removals through direct bilateral or multilateral agreements between countries - Emission reductions and removals when internationally transferred are called: Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs)
– Need to be real, verified and additional - Corresponding adjustment (CA)
– The country where the carbon project is located (“host country”) must authorize the transfer of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) & adjust its
own greenhouse gas inventory
– The buying country adjusts its GHG inventory by the same amount! - ITMOs already traded by pioneering countries (Switzerland and Japan)
COP26 Results on Article 6.4
- Multilateral crediting mechanisms Creation of global carbon market
- Governed by supervisory body (UN as a certifier)
– Establishes requirements and processes necessary to operate the mechanism, including mechanism registry - Article 6 , paragraph 4 emission reductions (A6.4ERs )
– Project developer need to request registration with supervisory body
– Host party declares A6.4ERs for NDCs or other international mitigation purposes
– Corresponding adjustment required at first transfer for both NDC and other international mitigation purposes - Share of Proceeds ( SoP ) Policy: 5% fee for all new credits + fixed payment to
Adaptation Fund - Cancellation of a minimum of 2% of all issued A6.4ERs
CDM Transition
- Transition of clean development mechanism activities
– Request by latest 31.12.2023 approval no later than 31.12.2025
– Needs to apply corresponding adjustment and follow CMA guidance and
requirements
– CDM methodology can be continue latest till 31.12.2025 change to Article 6.4 approved methodologies - Use of certified emission reductions towards first or first updated NDC
Voluntary Emission Reduction (VER)
- Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) is not regulated by Article 6
- Possible impacts on VCMs?
– Split markets
– Gold Standard offers ’early mover program’ with adjusted credits
– Verra plans to develop an Article 6 label and guidance
COP 27 - Egypt’s Goals and Vision
- Mitigation
– Stay well below 2C and work hard to keep 1.5C alive
– Witness the implementation of the Glasgow pact call to review ambition in NDCs, and create a work program for ambition on mitigation - Adaptation
– Enhance global action, create progress, and reconfirm Paris Agreement goals - Finance
– Facilitated access to meet the needs of developing countries ( Africa, LDCs, and SIDS)
– Follow up on existing commitments & pledges progress of annual USD 100 billion - Collaboration
– Enhancing and facilitating agreement in the negotiations to achieve tangible results
– Support work of governments, the private sector and civil society as one to transform the way in which we interact with our planet
Decisions taken at the Sharm El Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP 27)
- Common metrics used to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks
- Welcomes the 40 submitted National Adaptation Plans
- Notes the challenges, complexities and delays experienced by developing country Parties in accessing funding and support from the Green Climate Fund for the formulation and implementation of national adaptation plans
- Requests the Adaptation Committee and the Least Developed Countries Expert Group to enhance their work in addressing the priority gaps and needs, obstacles and challenges identified through their work
- Matters relating to the work programme for urgently scaling up mitigation ambition and implementation referred to in paragraph 27 of decision 1/CMA.3
What are Loss & Damages
- Impacts of climate change which are not avoided by mitigation, adaptation and other measures such as disaster risk management
- Loss & damages include:
– Economic losses including permanent and irreversible losses such as to lives, livelihoods, homes and territory
– Non economic impacts, such as the loss of culture, identity, ecosystem services and biodiversity, which cannot be quantified in monetary terms - It results from both extreme weather events like hurricanes & floods, & slow onset climatic processes such as sea level rise, glacial retreat and salinization
- Projected economic costs alone:
– By 2030: estimate of USD 400 billion / between USD 290 and 580 billion a year in
developing countries alone
– By 2050: between USD 1 to 1.8 trillion in developing countries alone - Officially recognized at COP 19 in 2013 (Warsaw, Poland) & included in a distinct article in the Paris Agreement beyond adaptation
Loss & Damages Funding Arrangements at COP27
- Acknowledging Existing funding arrangements fall short of responding to current and future impacts of climate change & are not sufficient to address funding gaps
- Decide to
– Establish new funding arrangements which complement and include sources, funds, processes and initiatives under and outside the Convention and the Paris Agreement
– Establish a fund for responding to loss and damage - Establish a transitional committee for operationalization of the new funding arrangements and the new fund (supported by the UNFCCC secretary)
–> Johan Rockström , Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: “While
1.5 C is a scientific necessity and potentially physically possible, COP27 shows that it is politically dead. continue unabated. The world needs to cut global emissions by 50% in 7 years’ time, yet in Sharm , we still battled over whether we are phasing down or out coal and weren’t willing to talk about fossil fuels.”
