Battle lines are being drawn. Today is the first full day of negotiations. According to the NY Times, India is proving to be a tough negotiator. President Obama has been courting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for some time now. India is the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter and as such has a large stake in the outcome of the negotiations. Remember, development is (today at least) still dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. Investment in clean energy takes time. It takes money as well; but the power and the will to divest from one energy source in favor of another requires the buy-in of a vast array of stakeholders. Think of the oil industry, manufacturing, food growers and producers, and all of us who have grown dependent on the lifestyle that requires this type of energy. Or so we think.
India, it appears, has staked out an uncompromising position. [The country] embodies a critical tension between developed nations like the United States, which are calling for universal emission cuts, and developing nations like India, which say they deserve to increase fossil fuel use as their economies grow or else receive billions of dollars to make the transition to cleaner energy. India is not alone in wanting a piece of the pie. There’s a group called the Vulnerable 20 (V20). They are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam. V20 is calling for a significant mobilization of public and private finance for climate action at the international, regional and domestic level. [The group] was created to share and scale up innovative approaches to climate finance developed by those countries most affected by climate change.
Funding alternative energy research received a healthy boost yesterday when Bill Gates announced The Breakthrough Energy Coalition for funding renewable energy. Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos are all members. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition will work with countries participating in Mission Innovation [the initiative aims to double public investments in energy research over the next five years] to facilitate "large funding commitments for basic and applied research." According to its site, the coalition will also focus its investments on "early stage companies that have the potential of an energy future that produces near zero carbon emissions and provides everyone with affordable, reliable energy."
While I applaud the investment in research, there needs to be equal investment in implementation and mobilization now. The excuse used most often is that subsidizing solar panels on homes, for example, is too expensive. We were more than willing to make the change when we lived in The Netherlands, but the subsidies were being cut. That sends a clear message that government – and the fossil fuel industry – stood to lose money on the deal and citizens would do well to leave well enough alone.
Australia provided another early blow to the success of the COP21 negotiations by rejecting a fossil fuel pledge. Prime Minister’s Malcolm Turnball’s reasons lay bare the complex interrelationships between the fossil fuel industry, government, taxes, the International Monetary Fund, and language. In the discussions over the statement Australia had expressed some concern about the use of an International Monetary Fund definition of subsidy, which the French had wanted included. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull later said the document contained a "rather gratuitous reference to an IMF report which goes much further than inefficient fuel subsidies". Mr Turnbull said the IMF report effectively argued that not having a carbon tax in place was a fossil fuel subsidy. The IMF argues that if the full economic costs that burning fossil fuels causes is not factored in the use of coal, oil and gas is effectively subsidised.
Clearly, the next two weeks will be a tug of war between people making sure any agreement that is announced on December 11 includes provisions that meet the needs of both developed and developing nations but (and?) couched in language that is general (vague?) enough to leave it open to interpretation.
India, it appears, has staked out an uncompromising position. [The country] embodies a critical tension between developed nations like the United States, which are calling for universal emission cuts, and developing nations like India, which say they deserve to increase fossil fuel use as their economies grow or else receive billions of dollars to make the transition to cleaner energy. India is not alone in wanting a piece of the pie. There’s a group called the Vulnerable 20 (V20). They are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam. V20 is calling for a significant mobilization of public and private finance for climate action at the international, regional and domestic level. [The group] was created to share and scale up innovative approaches to climate finance developed by those countries most affected by climate change.
Funding alternative energy research received a healthy boost yesterday when Bill Gates announced The Breakthrough Energy Coalition for funding renewable energy. Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos are all members. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition will work with countries participating in Mission Innovation [the initiative aims to double public investments in energy research over the next five years] to facilitate "large funding commitments for basic and applied research." According to its site, the coalition will also focus its investments on "early stage companies that have the potential of an energy future that produces near zero carbon emissions and provides everyone with affordable, reliable energy."
While I applaud the investment in research, there needs to be equal investment in implementation and mobilization now. The excuse used most often is that subsidizing solar panels on homes, for example, is too expensive. We were more than willing to make the change when we lived in The Netherlands, but the subsidies were being cut. That sends a clear message that government – and the fossil fuel industry – stood to lose money on the deal and citizens would do well to leave well enough alone.
Australia provided another early blow to the success of the COP21 negotiations by rejecting a fossil fuel pledge. Prime Minister’s Malcolm Turnball’s reasons lay bare the complex interrelationships between the fossil fuel industry, government, taxes, the International Monetary Fund, and language. In the discussions over the statement Australia had expressed some concern about the use of an International Monetary Fund definition of subsidy, which the French had wanted included. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull later said the document contained a "rather gratuitous reference to an IMF report which goes much further than inefficient fuel subsidies". Mr Turnbull said the IMF report effectively argued that not having a carbon tax in place was a fossil fuel subsidy. The IMF argues that if the full economic costs that burning fossil fuels causes is not factored in the use of coal, oil and gas is effectively subsidised.
Clearly, the next two weeks will be a tug of war between people making sure any agreement that is announced on December 11 includes provisions that meet the needs of both developed and developing nations but (and?) couched in language that is general (vague?) enough to leave it open to interpretation.
Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/world/asia/narendra-modi-could-make-or-break-obamas-climate-legacy.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/10/08/vulnerable-twenty-ministers-more-action-investment-climate-resilience-low-emissions-development
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/30/9817766/bill-gates-mark-zuckerberg-breakthrough-energy-coalition-cop-21
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/un-climate-conference/paris-un-climate-conference-2015-australia-rejects-fossil-fuel-pledge-20151130-glbw4s.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/world/asia/narendra-modi-could-make-or-break-obamas-climate-legacy.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/10/08/vulnerable-twenty-ministers-more-action-investment-climate-resilience-low-emissions-development
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/30/9817766/bill-gates-mark-zuckerberg-breakthrough-energy-coalition-cop-21
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/un-climate-conference/paris-un-climate-conference-2015-australia-rejects-fossil-fuel-pledge-20151130-glbw4s.html