Tag: COP21

 The EU and its member states must call for a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and scale up climate finance commitments at the COP21 UN climate talks in Paris, Parliament said on Wednesday. MEPs also say a share of revenues from the EU's carbon market allowances should be earmarked for climate finance, and the aviation and shipping sectors should initiate measures to curb their emissions by the end of 2016.'We are facing the fight of the century. If we do not succeed in preventing global warming from exceeding 2 degrees C by the end of the century we will see many more droughts, floods, melting glaciers and the disappearance of more and more farm land. Climate change will also be a factor in increasing the migration problem,' said Gilles Pargneaux (S&D, FR), who drew up the resolution, which was adopted by 434 votes to 96, with 52 abstentions.'The financial issue is and will be the cornerstone of an agreement in Paris. This is why we are calling for a clear roadmap from the member states so that we know how to finance the green fund from 2020. Fixing a carbon price at global level would also help ...

 The Marshall Islands foreign minister, Tony de Brum, has released via email his assessment on IMO's climate position calling IMO Secretary General a ''danger'' to theplanet.Mr Koji Sekimizu has stated that IMO is the only place where the debate over shipping and climate change calling to global leaders at COP21, which will be held in Paris on 7-8 December 2015, not to intervene. “In the process leading up to the Paris meeting, world leaders might be tempted to consider specific measures aimed at reducing shipping’s overall contribution of CO2 emissions, such as an overall cap. Such measures would artificially limit the ability of shipping to meet the demand created by the world economy, or would unbalance the level playing field that the shipping industry needs for efficient operation, and therefore must be avoided,”  Mr Sekimizu has said in his official statement.RMI’s Foreign Affairs Minister Tony de Brum expressed his concerns over IMO's head opinion in a statement as follows:''His call is not just a danger to the planet, but as the research points out, also to the shipping industry’s future prosperity, and therefore the future stability of world trade,” RMI’s Foreign Affairs Minister Tony de Brum said in a statement.“GHG pollution is a difficult issue for ...

 According to the latest draft deal, the aviation and shipping sectors are set to be exempt from targeted CO2 emissions cuts in the December Paris climate agreement, T&E reports This is an irresponsible U-turn, say environmental groups Seas At Risk and Transport & Environment. CO2 emissions from the two sectors are set to grow by up to 250% by 2050, making attempts to limit global warming to 2°C all but impossible. The latest draft Paris deal removes previous calls for aviation and shipping CO2 reduction targets. Both international sectors are not covered by national targets in the Paris agreement. Aviation is responsible for 5% of global warming with shipping emitting 3% of global CO2. Even so, last week outgoing IMO secretary-general, Koji Sekimizu, argued publicly against an overall cap on ship emissions, saying it would inhibit world trade.John Maggs, senior policy advisor at Seas At Risk, said: “Excluding shipping from Paris opens up a fatal flaw in the global strategy to tackle climate change. As the IMO secretary-general’s recent remarks show, without a clear signal from the UNFCCC, the IMO is incapable of making the necessary decisions to ensure shipping takes a fair share of the burden of reducing emissions.”Proposals from the least ...

 As world leaders prepare for key negotiations on climate change in Bonn and Paris later this year, IMO Secretary General Koji Sekimizu has issued a strong call for any discussion on shipping’s contribution to global CO2 emissions to be held at IMO.In a statement issued during a conference in Singapore, Sekimizu reiterated his view that IMO is the only place where the debate over shipping and climate change should be taken forward, given the huge impact the industry has on the global economy and its unique international structure.Mr Sekimizu stated:It is important to stress that IMO is, to date, the only international organization to have adopted global legislation to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from a particular industry. Nothing similar exists for any other industry or business sector. IMO has consistently and successfully, over time, explored new possibilities to improve upon existing technical, operational and management measures to reduce vessel-source air pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. IMO continues to contribute to the global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the context of the climate change debate.In the process leading up to the Paris meeting, world leaders might be tempted to consider specific measures aimed at reducing shipping’s overall contribution of ...

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported  that ahead of an upcoming United Nations climate conference in Paris, world leaders have voiced broad support for reaching a durable agreement that will accelerate investments in clean energy and spur a global, low-carbon transformation well before the end of the century, consistent with a below 2 degrees Celsius pathway.“Leaders expressed their resolve to finalize a durable, meaningful agreement in Paris that applies to all countries,” Mr. Ban told reporters following a high-level working lunch held on the margins of the UN Sustainable Development Summit, which opened in New York on Friday.The Summit, which has adopted the landmark new sustainability blueprint, Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – composed of 17 goals and 169 targets to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate over the next 15 years – is also being seen as an opportunity to continue momentum ahead of the Twenty-first meeting of States Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), informally known as COP 21, taking place in the French capital this December.“Our meeting today was not a negotiation, but an informal gathering to inject greater political energy,” explained the UN chief at a press conference ...

 Drawing on experiences with carbon pricing initiatives around the world, new research lays out principles for governments and businesses to develop successful and cost-effective schemes to put a price on social costs of greenhouse gas emissions.The research by the World Bank Group, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD), with input from the International Monetary Fund, says that well designed carbon pricing schemes are a powerful and flexible tool that can cut emissions causing climate change. At the same time, a new World Bank Group report, State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2015, shows the number of implemented or planned carbon pricing schemes around the world has almost doubled since 2012, and is now worth about $50 billion.“The world needs to find effective ways to reduce carbon pollution,” said World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim.“We must design the best ways to price carbon in order to help cut pollution, improve people’s health, and provide governments with a pool of funds to drive investment in a cleaner future and to protect poor people.”“With COP21 fast approaching, the need for meaningful carbon policies is more important than ever. Carbon pricing is central to the quest for a cost-effective transition towards zero net emissions in ...

EU Member States show their trust in IMO's ability to deliver important results in the regulation regarding the greenhouse emissions from international shipping. “The EU Council’s decision to entrust the IMO with the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from international shipping is a vote of confidence in the international organisation’s ability to deliver” claimed Patrick Verhoeven, ECSA Secretary General following the adoption of the EU Member States’ negotiating position at the UNFCCC in Paris (COP 21).Commenting on the progress made, Mr Verhoeven said that“the IMO has already delivered important results and is making great efforts, which should, in our opinion, be encouraged, not undermined. Its work guarantees both global coverage and a level playing field, without which, efforts to reduce GHG emissions from ships would be counterproductive. Amendments to MARPOL Annex VI and the adoption of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) make international shipping the only industrial sector already covered by mandatory and binding global measures”.Benoît Loicq, ECSA Maritime Safety and Environment Director added:“The Member States’ position adopted last Friday also ties in with the official EU approach with regard to the reduction of CO2 from international shipping”.The EU has indeed made headway in contributing to the international process ...

  In early June,  major oil and gas companies, BG Group plc, BP plc, Eni S.p.A., Royal Dutch Shell plc, Statoil ASA and Total SA, announced their call to governments around the world and to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to introduce carbon pricing systems and create clear, stable, ambitious policy frameworks that could eventually connect national systems. These would reduce uncertainty and encourage the most cost effective ways of reducing carbon emissions widely. The six companies set out their position in a joint letter from their chief executives to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and the President of the COP21. This comes ahead of the UNFCCC’s COP21 climate meetings in Paris this December. With this unprecedented joint initiative, the companies recognize both the importance of the climate challenge and the importance of energy to human life and well-being. They acknowledge the current trend of greenhouse gas emissions is in excess of what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Centigrade, and say they are ready to contribute solutions. As the chief executives write:“Our industry faces a challenge: we need to meet greater energy ...