A look to future meetings

As usual, this UN Climate Change Conference was packed with negotiations, informal consultations, and side events. I attempted to soak up every minute I could and to catch up on the details of the negotiations after being absent (in person, anyway) for two years. Here is a great summary of the proceedings at this conference: https://www.carbonbrief.org/bonn-climate-talks-key-outcomes-from-june-2019-un-climate-conference.  I also took tons of notes and would be happy to answer any questions anyone may have (email me at twbrown@mail.usf.edu).

By their nature, the negotiations at these meetings build on each other.  As such, there was frequent mention of two upcoming meetings:

·       2019 Climate Summit in New York City. Here, there will be a major focus on increasing ambition. As NDCs are up for renewal in 2020, it is especially important for countries to step up their contributions to the Paris Agreement goals of keeping global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and striving to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C. There have been requests to limit speeches and focus on commitments.

·       COP25 in Santiago, Chile, which is being touted as both the Blue COP, in recognition of the upcoming IPCC report on Oceans and the important role oceans play in global economies and in a sustainable future, and as the Citizen’s COP, recognizing the importance of access and involvement by all. 

·       Observer organizations were granted a meeting with the incoming COP25 President, and the following was noted from the discussion.

o   COP25 is the last COP before countries need to renew NDCs so increasing ambition is especially important. The COP25 President wants to see ocean protection in NDC Revisions for 2025.

o   We must finish the Article 6 Rulebook – for market and non-market mechanisms.

o   The COP25 President wants gender to be discussed as part of every item.  She said we don’t need just a gender focus on adaptation but also need increased participation by women, especially with goals to raise ambition. They are also working to include indigenous peoples throughout the conference.

o   The COP25 President said that people are more aware now, so we need to use this force to increase ambition. We can use citizens’ force to bring actors to the table for countries that may consider leaving the agreement, and to encourage subnational participation. She also said that participation by civil society is key, and that we need to have more agreements to work together that include local governments.

·       Logistics of COP25

o   There will be a Blue Zone for badged participants to access all official events including delegation rooms, country pavilions, negotiation rooms, rooms for plenaries and side events, NGO spaces, and restaurants. 

o   The Green Zone will be open to and adjacent to the Blue Zone. The Green Zone will be for the public including Chilean and international visitors from NGOs and the public and private sectors. They should feature interactive and interesting exhibits to get the community involved. Blue Zone badges will have access to the Green Zone, and because of their close proximity, it should be a smooth transition between the two zones.

o   Every delegate will receive a free pass for public transportation. There is a subway of 7-8 lines and buses.

o   They are working for the event to be sustainable and carbon neutral.

·       The location of COP26 is still being discussed but will likely be in the UK or in Milan.

The roles of subnational actors in climate action

At the SB50, subnational actors were highlighted as relevant players in increasing ambition towards Paris Agreement goals. As a Natural Resources Manager for local government, I was glad to see this. While we should continue to encourage the US to play a leadership role in achieving Paris Agreement goals, it is increasingly being recognized that state governments, local governments, corporations, communities and individuals all have roles to play. Several side events I attended focused on subnational action.  

Advancing Ambition through Multilevel and Collaborative Climate Action

This session featured speakers from ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability), the NDC Partnership, International Collaboration for Climate Action (ICCA) and REN21. Here are a few of the session highlights:

·       NDC Goals would not be met without collaborative action. Member countries are increasingly requesting support for designing and implementing climate actions at subnational levels. Such vertical climate action has a strong focus on cross-sectoral activities such as waste, transportation, health, and water.

·       Challenges – regions are affected differently by climate change, local players may not have complete knowledge of the country’s NDC, regions that do not suffer visible environmental damage may not be as aware of the NDC or the need to act, local governments may face scarcity of financial resources, it can be difficult to develop regionally coherent strategies, and local authorities often have difficulties accessing climate finance.

·        Cities will play a vital role in reducing emissions, and they are the centers for innovation and job creation. Cities need funding from state and national govts. Efforts are needed to ensure we more effectively include and engage subnational governments.

·       Urban-LEDS II (Urban Low Emission Development Strategies) project in brief – integrated low emission and resilience development in more than 60 cities and towns in 8 countries from planning to implementation. Climate change and resilience can’t be separated at the local government, and sector silos (energy, waste, transportation, etc.) are artificial and work needs to occur across these sectors.

·       ICLEI is working with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy to track subnational contributions, so they can be included in NDCs, and hopefully raise ambition.

·       Local governments often need finance for policy implementation. They receive multiple benefits including assistance with analysis (e.g., developing greenhouse gas inventories and identifying climate risks), reporting (e.g., reporting climate and emissions data, and tracking progress to assess gaps and opportunities), action (e.g., engaging with stakeholders and developing and implementing action plans and policies), and capacity building (e.g., training and sharing good practices and tools).

·       Hironori Hamanaka, Chair of ICLEI Japan, spoke of how local governments in Japan are mandated to develop plans towards climate action. The overall goal is a decarbonized society and carbon neutrality as early as possible in the second half of this century. They acknowledge the IPCC 1.5C report, and are aiming to decarbonize major sectors including energy, manufacturing, and transport by 2050. They are working to create a circular and ecological economy. Big cities such as Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagano have established their own specific goals and targets.

·        Lea Ranalder or REN21 discussed the preliminary findings of their recent Renewables in Cities Global Status Report. They consolidate renewable energy (RE) data across all sectors and strive to show that the transition to renewables is happening and at what level/pace. REN21 recently became interested in cities because half of the world’s population lives in cities, and 65% of energy demand is in cities. Cities are major players in climate change policy and are often more ambitious than their national counterparts.  Drivers for RE in cities include climate change, health, air pollution, local revenue, socioeconomic development, and energy security.  She noted that ambition translates into results – at least 100 cities worldwide use 70% or more RE. For more information: Ren21.net/cities; Cities Report - Preliminary Findings; Global Status Report

·       Audience commentary: Should we start tracking Locally Determined Contributions (LDC) that align with NDCs? It is good practice to have local government representatives within the delegation. Decentralized energy systems will be key to transition away from energy monopolies. Local governments have so much potential in heating, cooling, and transport, not just electricity.

All scales of government to achieve 100% renewables

This session featured speakers from Global100RE (go100re.net), ICLEI, WWEA, and REN21.

·       Saturday launched first Global Day for Renewable Energy in partnership with the FridaysforFuture. They are calling it World REnew Day and are aiming for events around the world in future years (Press release).

·       Working to make a goal of 100% RE the new norm.

·       NDCs should have strong local dimensions. *Pioneers are often local.*

·       Need national support schemes for local governments to improve communication, data collection, cross-level cooperation and coordination. Barriers and challenges include: knowledge gaps, extant structures and persistent notions, limited economic capacity, divergent priorities, lack of mandates, inflexibility.

·       To enhance local-national cooperation: empower local government, develop proactive policies, lead by example, use policies from around the world and modify them for local use, start small if necessary, ensure transparent data collection, set science-based targets that are achievable yet ambitious, contextualize measures and tools.

·       Thinking of developing a Climate City Cup to recognize cities for data collection in areas of air pollution, mobility, energy consumption.

·       Benefits of local RE ownership: increase in local wealth, citizens become drivers, democratic structures are strengthened. Make sure locals receive benefits, to minimize resistance.

·       Irena Coalition for Action has a White Paper on Broadening the Ownership of Renewables and another White Paper in progress on Financing Community Energy.

·       Costa Rica has 100% RE; may serve as an example for other countries.

Climate Resilient Infrastructure

During a Climate Resilient Infrastructure side event, we heard from a variety of speakers discussing climate action. GIZ, a German service provider in international development and education, described their project portfolio, of which 1/3 is climate-related. Carlos Fuller of Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) in Belize and chief negotiator for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) spoke of a risk management tool called CCORAL that supports climate compatible development; with the tool, users answer a series of yes or no questions and the tool helps them determine if their project is low, medium or high climate risk. This tool can help evaluate projects such as a revised transportation plan or road upgrade to the port. In one example, the Caribbean Development Bank incorporated climate design and elevated a road to reduce risk.


We also heard from Darryl Danyluk of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), with representation from 100 nations. They are concerned with infrastructure vulnerable to extreme weather events. Infrastructure is designed for a long service life (~50 years), but climate uncertainty requires additional planning and investment up front.  Design codes can be dated when a one in 100-year flood becomes a one in 20-year flood. It is also important to consider that infrastructure is often interdependent; for example, when a culvert collapses from flooding, that failure may impact a co-located gas line, water line, stormwater system, or sewage management system. Population growth, especially in coastal areas and along rivers, has exacerbated infrastructure problems. He gave an example from Calgary in which a wastewater treatment plant was inundated with floodwaters and waste from half a million people went into the river, which then flowed past other towns before reaching the ocean. While this was the fourth such event in 120 years, this event was especially consequential because of the population right along the river.


Several country representatives added to the discussion. Nilesh Prakash, of the Republic of Fiji mentioned that major climatic events impacted many sectors in 2016, and in 2018, they experienced back-to-back cyclones. Climatic events are becoming more intense and more frequent. They are not insuring houses but are insuring households, and the government subsidizes insurance premiums. A representative from Ghana mentioned that they are in a data gathering stage to help improve stability in public assets. Efforts are focused in Accra, which is home to a small percentage of the population but generates 25% of the GDP. When Accra is impacted, it affects the entire country. They are conducting cost-benefit analyses to show how risk reduction now might reduce future losses, and are working to improve data quality by identifying risks, tracking historical loss data, and maintaining a registry of public assets to determine who owns the risk. A representative from Costa Rica mentioned that prime insurance rates are lowered for projects that incorporate adaptation measures, and that this is especially relevant for small farms.