A place for all things related to the UN climate change conference in Bali, Dec. 3-14.

December 06, 2007

There are a mind-numbing amount of press conferences held every single day here at the UN climate conference in Bali. You could spend the entire day doing nothing but going from one press conference to another.

Today there were 10 different press conferences to choose from. They touched on everything from green jobs to deforestation to domestic legislation.

I try to go to at least one press conference per day. I'm less interested in the content of the press conference and more interested in the questions the journalists are asking. It's a good way to find out what's generating a buzz in Bali.

The press conference I went to today was on how climate change will affect developing countries. The speakers talked about how the most severe impacts of climate change will be felt by poor nations. Not only will developing countries suffer the worst effects of a warming world but they will also least able to cope with the impacts.

The speakers emphasized that because developed countries are largely responsible for the problem of climate change, they should take the lead in tackling it.

It's the foundation the Kyoto Protocol was built upon.

In Bali, one of the things delegates have to agree on is a framework for an adaptation fund to help developing countries adapt to climate changes. Delegates also have to agree on a framework for technology cooperation to help developing countries use clean technologies.

Equity is a big part of international climate change negotiations. But on this issue, Canada is the bad guy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the Kyoto Protocol a "mistake" because it did not assign targets to developing countries, such as China and India.

He is demanding that "binding, absolute targets" be imposed on all countries or none. It's an extremely unjust position.

You can't ask poorer nations to shoulder the burden and do just as much as wealthy nations, especially when we caused the problem.

Wealthy countries can afford to develop the technologies that will help us cut our emissions. Without cooperation, technology and incentives, developing countries will be left to make the same mistakes that were made in rich countries.

Besides, countries like China and India are included in the Kyoto Protocol. Developing countries were exempt from reductions in the first phase of the Protocol but they will begin to take on commitments in the second phase, which begins after 2012.

The whole thing reminded me of an episode of the West Wing in which the fictional American President Bartlet lectured his Commerce Secretary about a global warming treaty: 'I think what's lunacy is a nation of SUVs telling a nation of bicycles that they have to change the way they live before we'll agree to do something about greenhouse emissions."

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at December 06, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(0) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

December 05, 2007

Moving beyond a roadmap

There's a real feeling in Bali that countries are going to set a roadmap in place for long-term action on climate change before the talks wrap up next Friday.

More specifically, the Bali talks are expected to launch a process to set a post-2012 climate change agreement in motion. But that's it. A process. It's a critical first step but there's no point creating a process without substance.

It's important to commit to setting specific, absolute emission reduction targets for developed countries here in Bali. Environmental groups and many countries are calling for at least 25 to 40 per cent reductions by 2020.

There's a lot of potential in Bali to go far beyond just setting out a roadmap. Some countries are already stepping up to the plate.

New Zealand, for example, is talking about the need to cut emissions 25 to 40 per cent and wants those targets to be written into the mandate for the post-2012 agreement. The target is also endorsed by the EU.

Major developing countries are also talking about stepping up their commitments.

Brazil, South Africa and China announced they are willing to negotiate new and stronger commitments in the post-2012 Kyoto Protocol period.

A condition of negotiating stronger commitments for developing countries is that industrialized nations like Canada and Japan must agree to deeper cuts in absolute emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

It seems clear that a Bali roadmap will be created by the end of these talks next Friday. The question is how ambitious and specific will that roadmap be?

In other news:

CBC: Canada flounders on issue of climate change

Malaysia Sun: India under pressure from Canada, Japan over climate change

Earth Times: US, Japan, Canada put up roadblocks at climate conference

CTV.ca: Opposition slams Tories over climate stances

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at December 05, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(1) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

December 04, 2007

Blogging the UN climate conference

There's no shortage of websites to help you stay on top of the climate change talks in Bali. It seems like everyone is live blogging the conference. You'd be hard pressed to find a delegate not surgically attached to a laptop around here.

Here's a list of some of the best websites (well, aside from this one, of course) for anyone looking to stay on top of the international climate negotiations.

United Nations: The UN has set up a website dedicated to the conference. It's where you can find all the official information about what's going on. The UN also has a live webcast of the conference (I dare you not to fall asleep watching this one). For people with limited time, the UN also posts the daily highlights on Youtube.

It's Getting Hot in Here: Youth delegates in Bali are posting video, photos and text as the conference unfolds. It's an impressive site with lots of insight and energy, kind of like the youth delegates themselves.

Bali Buzz: Bali Buzz is a virtual press room for the Bali conference, streaming the latest news on the UN Bali climate conference from Google News, CAN, and Youth Delegation reports

Grist: Environmental news and commentary, along with the occasional post about what's going on in Bali.

Oxfam: Oxfam representatives in Bali are blogging about the climate change talks with a focus on developing countries.

Dot Earth: This New York Times environment blog is run by Andrew C. Revkin, one of the best environment beat reporters in the business. He's blogging about climate change and Bali.

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at December 04, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(0) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

December 04, 2007

UN climate conference: Day 2

International climate change talks are now fully underway in Bali. By the time they wrap up next Friday, countries will have to come to an agreement on a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

The Bali conference won't actually deliver a fully negotiated climate change deal. But it will lay the foundation for a new deal for the post-2012 period, which is the year when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The UN has made it clear that it wants that deal created by 2009 so that it can be ratified and implemented in time. Yes, it can take years for those things to happen (sometimes it feels like the glacial pace of these negotiations is out of step with the urgency of climate change).

The UN has also outlined how success or failure will be measured when the Bali conference wraps up on December 14. Success in Bali will be the launch of negotiations and a clear deadline of 2009 to end the negotiations. It should also include real progress in countries taking on stronger commitments to tackle climate change.

Failure in Bali will be anything short of that. Delaying the talks could create a gap between the Kyoto Protocol and a new agreement.

In addition to the new climate change deal, there are lots of other issues under negotiation at Bali. This includes deeper emission cuts for industrialized countries, adaptation to climate change, the management and operation of a fund for adaptation, technology transfer, reducing emissions from deforestation and issues related to the international carbon market.

It's hard to follow everything that's happening here, especially when the daily agenda is filled with items like "Implications of the establishment of new hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC-22) facilities seeking to obtain certified emission reductions for the destruction of hydrofluorocarbon-23 (HFC-23)." Huh?

Other things are much easier to follow, such as Australia's announcement yesterday that it ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Back at home, Environment Minister John Baird stood up in the House of Commons yesterday and said 2 degrees of average global warming would be "unacceptable." However, Canada's targets and policies will have to be considerably strengthened in order to reflect this new position.

We hope this means Canada will come to Bali with an increased willingness to play a constructive role in the negotiations (a little optimism never hurt anyone).

No one's really sure how it will all turn out yet. Two days down, ten to go.

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at December 04, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(0) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

December 02, 2007

Opening day

The 2007 UN climate change conference officially got underway in Bali today.

The first day of these meetings is always a frenzy of activity and excitement and today was no exception. I guess that's what happens when 10,000 people from around the world come together under one roof to tackle climate change.

There were several news conferences, side events, meetings and, of course, the official opening ceremony. The best part of the opening ceremony was the inspiring speech urging delegates to take action on climate change. The worst part of the opening ceremony was watching a group of local singers lip-synch their way through a song (in the hallway after the show, at least one delegate was overheard saying, "Man, that was cheesy").

After the opening ceremony, delegates got down to business. However, most of today's talks revolved around organizational matters (adopting the agenda and electing officers, for example). One thing that had everyone tongues wagging (or at least those belonging to the Canadian observers) was a controversial submission Canada made on the weekend.

In its submission, Canada is asking that the post-2012 Kyoto Protocol agreement includes emission reduction targets for all major greenhouse gas emitters, including developing countries like China and India. It's exactly the same position Canada took at the Commonwealth talks last month. It will be interesting to see what happens here in Bali.

That pretty much summarizes the day. There was a lot going on and nothing going on all at the same time.

We'll post more updates tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a quick look at some of the news coverage coming out of Canada:

CanWest: Bali for dummies

Toronto Star: Climate change critics fear Canada’s influence

National Post: Foreign Affairs documents warned Harper on climate change

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at December 02, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(1) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

November 29, 2007

On the road

I'm packing my bags and heading to Bali tomorrow morning. After several stopovers, a few different flights and countless time zones, the plane will finally touch down in Indonesia just before midnight on Saturday. Of course, that's assuming everything goes smoothly (I'm not holding my breath).

It's a grueling schedule that doesn't leave much time for sleep before the UN climate change conference kicks off on Monday. Still, it's pretty exciting to be part of such a critically important meeting.

Who needs sleep when you get to spend two weeks inside a conference centre watching international climate negotiations go down?

Starting Monday, I'll be updating this blog on a regular basis with all sorts of news from Bali. If Canada tries to block progress on a new climate deal, you'll hear about it here.

In the meantime, here are a few good links to help you get up to speed before the Bali climate conference begins.

UN climate change conference: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Bali conference can be found on its official website.

Canada in Bali (pdf): The David Suzuki Foundation's background document on Canada's negotiating position heading into Bali (it's a little technical but there's a lot of good information in it)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: The world's most authoritative voice on the science of climate change.

Bali backgrounder (pdf): This document prepared by the Climate Action Network Canada helps explains why the Bali meeting is so important.

Bali 101: Don't have time to wade through all that reading? This blog post summarizes all of the above in a few short paragraphs.

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at November 29, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(1) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

November 27, 2007

UN report criticizes Canada on climate change

Another day, another example of how Canada is dragging its feet on climate change. This time the evidence comes straight from the United Nations.

A new UN report released today says people in poor countries will suffer the consequences if wealthy countries fail to take strong action on climate change.

The 2007 Human Development Report says that global warming is largely caused by developed countries like Canada but it's having the greatest effect on people in poorer countries.

Canada was actually singled out by the UN as an "extreme" example of a country that is falling behind on its obligation under the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The report comes at a time when Prime Minister Stephen Harper is already under fire for watering down a Commonwealth climate-change agreement.

The media is cranking these stories out faster than we can read them. What more is it going to take for the federal government to start taking climate change seriously?

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at November 27, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(3) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

November 26, 2007

Canada blocks action on climate change at Commonwealth summit

Oh, Canada. You sure are making it hard for us to hold our heads up high these days.

The latest international embarrassment was Canada's cringe-worthy performance at the Commonwealth summit in Uganda on the weekend.

Every country in the Commonwealth had agreed to a draft climate-change agreement, which called on developed countries to meet greenhouse gas targets. But not Canada! No, we decided to stand up and block the agreement.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to sign the agreement unless it was watered down to remove any reference to "binding targets" on greenhouse gas emissions.

At Canada's insistence, the deal was changed. The word "binding" disappeared from the agreement and it now calls for "a long-term aspirational global goal for emissions reductions to which all countries would contribute."

An aspirational goal? What does that mean? Is aspirational even a real word? Or is it just government-speak for more inaction on climate change?

It's getting harder and harder to call ourselves proud Canadians these days. Let's hope Canada's performance in Uganda isn't a warm-up act for the main show in Bali next week.

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at November 26, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(2) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

November 26, 2007

Australia's new Prime Minister will make climate change his top priority

With the election of a new Prime Minister on the weekend, Australia has gone from a country opposed to taking action on climate change to a country committed to cutting emissions.

Wow. Sometimes change really does happen overnight.

Shortly after winning the Australian election, Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd announced that Australia will ratify the Kyoto Protocol and that he will go to the UN climate summit in Bali next week.

His timing couldn't be better. Having Australia on board in Bali will help boost the international fight against global warming. Australia's decision to ratify Kyoto now leaves the U.S. as the only industrialized country in the world not to have signed the agreement.

It also further isolates Canada, which is the only country that has ratified the Kyoto Protocol but refused to honour its commitments.

Mr. Rudd's win marks a pretty dramatic shift for Australia. Former prime minister John Howard refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol or take any action to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions. It was clearly a position not shared by the majority of Australia's citizens, who voted his government out of power on Saturday.

Maybe it will help inspire Canada to start taking climate change seriously. Who knows? Sometimes change really does happen overnight.

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at November 26, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(1) | Trackbacks(0)
Filed Under:

November 22, 2007

Reality check

With less than two weeks to go before delegates from around the world gather in Bali to tackle climate change, we thought it was time to check in on what Canada is doing to go green.

How does all of our talk about being a world leader in the fight against climate change match up with reality?

Let's find out!

Issue 1: Greenhouse gases
Canada says it will cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 per cent by 2020.

Reality check
Sounds good, right? Well, if you dig a little deeper, Canada's 20 per cent target isn't so impressive.

Here's what's missing from the fine print: Canada will cut its greenhouse gas emissions 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020.

The small print is a big problem. Under the Kyoto Protocol, we are obligated to cut our emissions six per cent below 1990 levels. While a 20 per cent cut may sound stronger than a six per cent cut, it's actually much weaker.

That's because the federal government is using 2006 as a base year for its 20 per cent cut. Because we put off action on climate change for so long, our greenhouse gas emissions rose 33 per cent above our Kyoto commitment by the end of 2005.

Let's do the math. Canada emitted 596 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 1990. That figure rose to 747 million tonnes in 2005. (Environment Canada hasn't released the numbers for 2006 yet so let's assume the 2006 total is the same as the 2005 total.)

If we cut our emissions 20 per cent above 2006 levels, what we're really doing is cutting our emissions 2 per cent above 1990 levels (see the Pembina Institute's analysis of the federal government's plan).

So far, not so good.

Next!

Issue 2: Intensity targets
Canada says it will use emission-intensity targets to cut greenhouse gases from large, polluting industries.

Reality check
Right. And I still believe in the tooth fairy. Emission-intensity targets are a fancy way of allowing large industries to keep polluting.

Here's how it would work. An intensity target accounts for greenhouse gas emissions per unit of economic activity. (Stay with me here. I'll try to make this as painless as possible.)

Let's use oil as an example. One barrel of oil is equal to one unit of economic activity. If the government legislates an 18 per cent improvement in emission-intensity, oil producers will have to emit 18 per cent fewer greenhouse gases per barrel of oil produced.

But if the number of barrels of oil produced increases by 300 per cent, then overall emissions will rise too. Intensity targets won't help us make the big cuts in emissions that are needed to get climate change under control.

A better solution would be to legislate absolute emission reductions. For example, the government could set a cap requiring Canadian oil producers to reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions 50 per cent (it's not so far-fetched. Shell Canada has committed to doing just that).

We still have a lot of work to do.

Next!

Issue 3: International leadership
Canada claims it is a world leader in the flight against climate change.

Reality check
There's a lot of hot air coming out of Ottawa these days and it's not because of global warming.

"We want to be a world leader in the fight against global warming and the development of clean energy," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a recent speech. "We want to lead, not by lecturing, but by example."

Federal Environment Minister John Baird went one step further and claimed Canada is already a champion of environmental protection.

Of course, there's no mention of the fact that Canada tends to stall and block progress during international Kyoto negotiations.

Here's just one example. At a 2007 UN climate meeting in Bonn, each country was asked to submit a report on what it could do to cut emissions. The EU wanted to set a submission deadline before the Bali meeting so that these reports could be discussed at Bali. Everyone was on-board . . . everyone except Canada, that is. We pushed for, and won, a February 2008 deadline, which will be long after the Bali meeting has ended.

If Canada wants to be a true international leader on climate change, we need to play a more constructive role at these talks.

So what's the verdict of our check-in two weeks in advance of the Bali climate summit? Well, our federal government has certainly spent a lot of time and effort talking about climate change. We'll give them that.

But we haven't actually done anything to cut our greenhouse gas emissions. We need less talk and more action.

Recommended reading
For anyone wanting to dive deeper into Canada's position heading into Bali, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute released a backgrounder on the 2007 UN climate negotiations today. Download it here (pdf).

Posted by Sarah Marchildon at November 22, 2007
PermaLink | Comments(2) | Trackbacks(1)
Filed Under: