Final Communiqué - December 2007
Elliot Morley, president of GLOBE International (on the right) meets with Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, in Bali to discuss the key messages from the Road to Copenhagen conference and formally hand over the communique.
Thank you to everyone who made amendments to the communiqué wiki on this site. We used the input received here, together with the discussions at the conference in Brussels on 23rd November, to formulate the final version of the communiqué to go to Bali. The final version is below. This was handed directly to Yvo de Boer, Chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, by Elliot Morley, President of GLOBE International, at Bali in December 2007.
On the communiqué wiki we have responded to each individuals wiki amendments and explained how we have taken them on board or, if we haven’t, why we haven’t.
Final Communiqué - December 2007
Our understanding of the science and economics of climate change is better than ever before and yet man’s emissions of greenhouse gases are increasing rapidly.
We urgently need a breakthrough at the UN Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC/Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Bali in December 2007 to help set the world on a pathway to climate stabilisation for the post-2012 period, when the first commitment period of Kyoto expires. At the same time we must quickly prepare for the increased risk of extreme weather events that are already affecting many countries.
As members of legislatures representing views from across the political spectrum, former world leaders, business and civil society leaders we believe that a clear, fair and effective global treaty backed by strong national policies can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions on a scale necessary to achieve the stabilisation of our climate. Indeed, we strongly believe that a fair, effective and ambitious global treaty, negotiated under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is the most appropriate way to secure climate, energy, economic, health and physical security for all.
It is clear from the Stern Review and the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the longer we delay action, the more costly it will be, both in terms of mitigation and in terms of the impacts many countries are already experiencing.
The issue is about risk: physical, economic and regulatory risk. The low-risk path is to have an ambitious, global treaty with long-term, predictable and stable national, regional and international regulation. Such a treaty will minimise the risk of physical impacts of climate change and the regulatory risk of unpredictable and hasty or ill-considered reactions from governments. The high-risk path is to do nothing resulting in unpredictable climate impacts that, in turn, lead to increased regulatory risk as governments react hurriedly either unilaterally or regionally. We must minimise the risk and maximise the opportunities.
Given the differentiated impact of climate change on women and men it is important that gender equality be a cross-cutting issue in the negotiations.
We therefore urge negotiators in Bali to:
- begin inclusive negotiations on a progressive, comprehensive and binding post-2012 framework that will set the world on a path to deliver a global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of at least 50 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050 with interim targets towards that goal (recognising that developed countries, who have more capacity to act, should accept targets of at least 60-80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050)
- determine the key building blocks around which negotiations will take place:
- mitigation (including a shared long term goal; absolute emission reduction targets for developed countries to drive an international carbon market, including the aviation and maritime sectors; and the development of new and flexible types of contributions from developing countries such as policies and measures to decarbonise economic growth, measures to avoid deforestation and land degradation and protection of biodiversity);
- adaptation (including support for vulnerability assessments, enhancing resilience, disaster risk reduction, access to information and capacity building);
- technology (including a 5-fold increase in global R&D, including a commitment to greater international cooperation between leading industrialised nations such as the G8 and EU and technology transfer of new and existing technologies to developing countries); and
- finance (the creation of a climate fund and support for innovative financing mechanisms for mitigation and adaptation, including disaster risk reduction, avoided deforestation, development and deployment of new and existing renewable energy technologies such as sustainable bio-fuels, wind and solar; and the expansion of the Clean Development Mechanism)
- commit to a step-change in communications, strengthening links to business, NGOs and citizens who, although they do not have a seat at the negotiating table, are critical stakeholders
- create a roadmap from Bali to Poznan (2008) to Copenhagen (2009), with clear milestones, that lays the foundations for a successful conclusion in 2009.
In turn we pledge to do all we can to support you through:
- using our domestic political processes to raise the urgency and scale of the climate change issue with our political leaders;
- building support among our legislative bodies to create the political space for ambitious action;
- further integrating climate change into our considerations of foreign, security and development policy;
- integrating gender equality as a cross-cutting issue;
- promoting innovative and strategic action in the private sector, encouraging business to help;
- shape the policy process and to contribute in its areas of special capacity such as technological development and risk management;
- using our links with citizens to create awareness of practical actions that we can all take to reduce emissions and promote a low carbon economy;
- developing, via our interactive working groups, a substantive policy input to the negotiating process; and
- reducing our own energy use
By working together a healthy and prosperous future can be secured for all.
ANNEXES
These annexes are the key principles and elements under each heading that should guide the post-2012 climate change negotiations.
1. Adaptation (Chair: Mary Robinson)
- Adaptation needs to be given a more central place in the negotiations; the `common but differentiated´ principle needs to be applied to adaptation strategies, together with the recognition of historical responsibility;
- Climate change adaptation strategies should aim at building resilience of communities and reducing and managing risk for all sectors including natural hazards, coastal risk management and land use, resource management, public health, public displacement, agriculture and biodiversity;
- Local and national authorities have the primary responsibility for developing programs of reducing risk but countries and areas of particular vulnerability need international support, including capacity building and transfer of technology;
- Adaptation and disaster risk reduction should take a much larger share of budgets in future programs, and should be built into criteria for assessment and development of programs and projects; all investments and development aid should be `climate proof´;
- Given the high estimated costs of adaptation ($30-70 billion annually. according to the IPCC), substantial new and additional resources should be committed by all major countries to assist adaptation in the developing world, using the polluter pays principle as a guideline;
- Mitigation and adaptation strategies must match and complement each other; adaptation strategies should build on the established international disaster risk reduction framework, and contribute to fairer terms of trade, helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
- Given the inter-generational dimension of climate change, strategies should pay particular attention to empowering children and youth, as agents of behavioral change in families and communities;
- The challenge of adaptation had the potential to be a source of new opportunities and innovation, but environmentally and socially sustainable international standards should be established for bio-fuels and other climate change related technologies;
- Given the changing risk factors and the need for effective local solutions, research into adaptation to climate change impacts should be substantially increased;
- Civil society, including parliamentarians, social entrepreneurs and NGOs should be more extensively engaged in order to spread wider public understanding of the problems of climate change and the behavioral changes that will be needed to limit further climate change and to adapt to the changes that are now unavoidable;
- An independent monitoring mechanism should be integrated into the post-2012 Framework to assess progress and maintain pressure for action on adaptation.
2. Mitigation (Chair: Margot Wallström)
Principles
- Urgency: taking into account the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report and the window of opportunity to act before climate change becomes “abrupt and irreversible”; reflecting the most cost-effective way to tackle climate change is strong and measured action now
- Equity: a post-2012 agreement must be perceived to be fair by all participants
- Flexibility: to accommodate different national economic circumstances
- Environmental certainty: a post-2012 framework must deliver emissions reductions on the scale required to avoid dangerous climate change
- Critical Mass or Participation: it is crucial that a post-2012 agreement includes all major economies
Elements
- Long-term stabilisation goal: providing a direction of travel and to assess the effectiveness of cumulative efforts (Q: should this be negotiated in the UNFCCC?)
- Absolute emissions reduction targets for developed countries
- Carbon Markets: creating a global price for carbon so that it is factored into economic decision-making; the market will ensure that emissions reductions are achieved at least cost
- Policies and Measures to reduce the carbon intensity of major developing countries as they legitimately seek economic growth and poverty eradication
- Measures to reduce deforestation and degradation: reflecting the value to us all of standing forests
- Measures to tackle emissions from aviation and shipping (currently not covered by the Kyoto Protocol)
3. Technology and Finance (Chair: Vigdis Finnbogadottir)
- A robust and credible price for carbon is essential but not sufficient.
- There must be complementary policy instruments to provide incentives for new technologies and ensure certainty for long term investments
- Markets must be designed in a way that encourages technological innovation e.g. auctioning of allowances in the European Emissions Trading Scheme post 2012.
- Expansion of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is critical
- The G8 and the EU should align research and development in technology and innovation
- Carbon Capture and Storage will be a key technology with the potential for a sizeable new industry to store carbon; questions of regulation and technology must be addressed immediately through commercial scale demonstration projects; assessment of storage potential, particularly in countries with high fossil fuel use, is critical, as is inclusion in the CDM
- Introducing new technology cooperation to bring US, Canada, Australia, China and India to accept binding commitments
- Principle of common but differentiated responsibility is central
- There should be a review of the governance structure of climate policy and technology innovation.