Paris climate talks shift from binding targets to ‘name and shame’

“He called me twice yesterday to discuss Malaysia’s stand and advised me that we (Malaysia) should not in any way fail in the Paris talks”, he told reporters before departing for Paris to attend the mnisterial-level 21st UNFCCC Conference from Dec 6 to Dec 11.

Liz Gallagher, project manager at the non-profit organisation E3G, said the first week of talks had seen “some movement among negotiation blocs, with the idea of north and south … becoming more nuanced”. He added that he finds it hard to imagine how the world can prevent 1.5 degrees of warming “without messing up the global economy, including people in developing countries”.

Negotiators of some developing countries have expressed concerns that with the limited progress made on some technical matters, outcomes may be unfavourable on items which require more technical expertise.

But can those governments be trusted to do what they say they will do? And loans? What about money from richer developing nations, multilateral agencies and development aid?

“At this point in Copenhagen we were dealing with a 300 page text and a pervasive sense of despair”, said Martin Kaiser, International Climate Negotiations Head at Greenpeace.

But in November it was discovered that China was burning 17 per cent more coal than it had been reporting. Despite the nearly irrefutable evidence that climate change presents a significant and immediate threat to the wellbeing of the planet, lawmakers in the United States and overseas still seem reluctant to reach a consensus on a uniform plan of action. “One hundred and eighty-four countries have put forth targets”. And what you realize is what I mentioned earlier, that American leadership involves not just playing to a narrow constituency back home, but you now are, in fact, at the center of what happens around the world, and that your credibility and America’s ability to influence events depends on taking seriously what other countries care about. “It is at the core of this deal”.

After the news conference he indicated the issue was still up for negotiation. More than 4,700 companies completed the questionnaire a year ago and were evaluated on the transparency of information and company performance as it relates to climate change issues.

Former President Kufuor said such institutions renowned for their competence were well respected and able to make convincing arguments at the negotiating table which would inure to the benefit of the continent.

Bell likens the 1960s turning point in nuclear disarmament with a climate agreement that was struck previous year between China and the U.S. That agreement formed the basis of both countries’ United Nations climate pledges.

French President François Hollande urged mayors to continue to get involved in fighting climate change because they constitute a “a principal player ” in this fight. “But intrusiveness is not welcome”. Some developing nations want to phase out fossil fuels by 2050, for instance, but China is among those preferring to promise merely to shift to a low-carbon economy this century.

The mechanism was brought into the negotiations during the Doha climate meeting in 2012 under pressure from the developing countries.

This 48 page long document still involves disagreements which stem from numerous expectations of rich and poor nations and countries lying somewhere in the middle.

Peter Bakker, president and chief executive of the World Council for Sustainable Development, which led on the work said: “It’s time to scale up”. At the moment, the text still includes the varying preferences of all the countries.

“For those who doubt that we have the political will to change, I ask you to always remember that political will is itself a renewable resource”, he said.

The group wants a substantial scaling up of finance from the 2020 base level of US$100bil (RM425bil), with a revision upwards every five years, while ensuring that the finance is new and additional, with an equal allocation between adaptation and mitigation. The amounts that have been pledged are not enough.

Elaborating further, Wan Junaidi said Malaysia submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to UNFCCC on Nov 27, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 45 per cent by 2030.