Women In Carbon: Apart from beaches and tequila is it worth going to Cancun?

Introduction

On Thursday 11th November 2010 I attended a Women In Carbon event held at Linklaters in Moorgate, addressing the expectations for the COP16 talks in Cancun, comprising 3 speakers followed by an audience-participative discussion.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty that was produced at the UN Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED) in Rio De Janeiro 1992 and became effective in 1994. It was signed by 194 parties and provides a general framework for intergovernmental efforts aimed at tackling the climate change issue. The basic aim is to stabilise the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The talks in Cancun represent the 16th COP (Conference of the Parties) to call for further commitment and compromise and are currently ongoing (29th November- 10th December 2010). Business Green and The Guardian Environment provide good updates online.

In general there are low levels of expectancy for the outcome of the talks in Cancun, but a feeling that it does represent an important step in moving towards a global deal and this event was set up to discuss the generalist hopes and fears. The first speaker was Harriet Thompson, the Head of Negotiation at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the second was Rhian Kelly, Director of Climate Change for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the third was Anna Lehmann, Market and Bioenergy Analyst at Toepfer. Anna was hired to set up the carbon trading desk at Toepfer, which is mainly involved in trading agricultural commodities like fertilizers, so where there is huge scope to minimise environmental impact.

Review of Copenhagen

The last COP was in Copenhagen in 2009 and Anna briefly reviewed it- expectations were raised very high as we needed an agreement what with the Kyoto agreement coming to an end. Many heads of state showed up, which raised the profile. They fell hard due to the lack of numerical commitments to emissions reductions as well as procedural and logistical mismanagement (5000 were allowed in the building, but 15,000 turned up so some people who needed to be in there were not able to enter). Since Copenhagen 2009 there have been feelings of hurt and a lack of trust surrounding carbon emissions targets internationally as we were left feeling that the real negotiations never really started. Rhian stated that we did achieve some things at Copenhagen and created momentum, but the media were responsible for the depression. Particularly after a few claims that the climate change science was dubious, there has been a need to reinstate the case for climate change.

Expectations for Cancun

Despite this, from the government’s perspective, Harriet stated that of course it is worth going to Cancun. The UK Government wants to be the greenest government and limit the increase in global temperature to 2 degrees. We need to represent the UK well, marketing ourselves and the steps we have taken towards targets to our counterparts.

This time there is no expectation of a global deal, but building on the progress of the last COP (in Copenhagen 2009) is the aim. Cancun will be an important stage post before Cape Town COP 2011 and there is hope for some tangible answers, for example a clear future for offset mechanisms.

At Cancun there is scope to make climate change mitigation legally, not just politically, binding, or at least take steps towards that. There have been pledges, especially from developing countries- the Mexicans have made excellent efforts in regaining trust, Brazil has committed to cutting emissions from deforestation. Some countries are recognising that it is important to take action and not wait for a global deal, to try and find a common ground and build up levels of trust again. There are a set of sub-decisions on the plate though, including those associated with adaption, technology transfer, capacity building, launch of readiness phase for REDD, the establishment of further financial architecture (general mechanisms and the Green Fund).

A member of the audience stated that in China, there is a difficulty as a lot of progress is made through personal relationships and trust (‘which province are you from?), however, China has the potential to embarrass America as have signed up to many emissions reduction schemes. China wants to protect its sovereignty and do things itself; their highest level of commitment is a 5 year plan. There has however been good news from California recently demonstrating that state-level action may be what is needed in the US.

What Rhian would like to see is:
-clear, transparent, carbon emissions reduction targets from major economies.
- An agreement over who pays and how.
-Plans for how to include all sectors (for example aviation and shipping too).
-Plans for how to inspire innovation.

Private sector fora

Rhian opened with the statement that ‘it is difficult to shake the Copenhagen hangover and blues’ but business has a vested interest in making this work as predictions dictate that low carbon markets will be worth £15 trillion by 2015. The CBI has a climate change board of 16 CEOs from around the world (they have international offices) to provide a coherent business voice and help support business reach their targets.

As well as the UN process, it is important to remember that there are other fora, like G20 (commitment to reduce fossil fuel subsidies), unilateral and bilateral action (i.e. India and Renewable Energy Certificates) and the Major Economies Forum (also has a commitment to the 2 degree target). For some businesses, for example those in the carbon markets, Copenhagen and Cancun are particularly important and for other businesses, the COPs have been less important as international business sustainability strategies are more important.

The private sector wish list for Copenhagen still stands for Cancun but is slightly shorter now- 75% of the funding for mitigation is expected to be from the private sector so there is an urgent need to integrate the private sector into this negotiation process. Other items on the wish list are actions and timelines (predictability) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) reform to define growth opportunities.

Conclusion

Fantastic presentations by 3 women representing both the public and private sectors, to a room full of women (and one man) working in the sustainability sector were followed by a lively debate and in turn followed by nachos, tequila and mojitos.

Whilst the UN process is arguably the most prominent and has the most scope for impact on climate change mitigation deals internationally, it is important to recognise that there are other sub-international level deals being made that are equally, if not more important. The private sector needs to be integrated into these global deals. There are lower expectations for Cancun over Copenhagen and certainly no expectations for a global deal, but it is recognised as an important and necessary stepping stone to allow further progress at Cape Town 2011.

The Executive Chairman of UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres , recently said that governments had revealed a growing convergence and that a balanced set of decisions could be an achievable outcome- chief among these is how to take mitigation actions forward.