•List of our partners’ wins grows with moves by AILAC on intergenerational equity & Switzerland on health
•Text deemed comprehensive, representing full range of governments’ ideas to date
•Picture of streamlining process for draft negotiating text starts to emerge
Government delegates had a chance to place additional ideas in the remaining sections of the Lima Call for Climate Action on Tuesday morning; ultimately turning the 38 page document into more than 70 pages of ideas and options on the shape and scope and structure of a new global climate agreement.
Before they completed all of the additions this morning, we saw more of our partners’ priority issues being championed by countries. A number of youth-led organizations who have spent years trying to build traction around the principle of intergenerational equity - that our planet should be handed to future generations in no worse condition than those we inherited it from - were given reason to celebrate whenAILAC took up the cause. The bloc of six countries (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and Peru) have played a constructive role throughout the week, helping push for stronger links to human rights and gender equality as well.
A second win came from Switzerland, who added language strengthening the link between climate action and our health. Charlotte Holm-Hansen and Yassen Tcholakov from the International Federation of Medical Students Associations - both in Geneva to help deepen governments’ understanding of the health implications of climate change and co-benefits of action - praised the small but significant Swiss addition: ‘In his proposal, he hammered in a sentence that literally saves our lives.’ The mounting evidence of health risks from climate change and health co-benefits of climate solutions are so overwhelming, they joked that from a doctor's perspective, climate action ‘basically does my job for me.’
While the text ballooned to near double its original length brings, we've arrived at a point where governments have a basis for negotiations that is comprehensive and represents the full range of their ideas to date. It's size also makes the task of streamlining feel more ominous. Under that weight, the high-spirited atmosphere that characterized Sunday and Monday deteriorated into confusion and some frustration about how to proceed. Some negotiators were ready to jump right in, and tried to do so Tuesday afternoon. Others wanted to take a step back before stepping forward. Negotiator Tracker Federico Brocchierri described the co-chairs approach to streamlining as "asking [governments] to express their views on how their views should be expressed.”
Ultimately though, amidst the confusion, our partners are getting a more clear sense of how streamlining will happen this week, as well as what that means for efforts to protect some of the best ideas and options on the table thus far. Wednesday’s negotiations will include a very broad discussion on structure of the new global climate agreement, and negotiators will start sharing specific ideas on ways to streamline the now 70+ pages of text.
News, links & useful grist that caught our eye
Tuesday marked the year’s first full day of discussions dedicated to increasing pre-2020 climate action. Wednesday’s ECO has quick reflections on what came up and suggestions for next steps.
In addition to our Negotiator Trackers’ first-person accounts of how intergenerational equity and health won the day, Federico Brocchieri created an infographic to illustrate what sections of the text ballooned and by how much. Spanish posts dig further intohuman rights and coal finance.
Christiana Figueres pushed back on RTCC’s Monday night headline that suggested a ballooning text risks becoming “unmanageable.” RTCC’s Tuesday wrap-up digs into her side of the argument. Climate Central has more on the emerging picture of a Paris Deal.
As our partners and governments alike wrestle with how best to speed the transition to 100% clean and renewable energy, The Carbon Group zeros in on 2050 as an important target year, while new research illustrates some of the risks of trying to substitute emissions cuts with other methods like geoengineering.
Outside the negotiations, more calls for climate action came from forward-thinking members of from the business community. While fossil fuel companies, feeling less positive about their future, lashed out with a flawed argument against the divestment movement. Meanwhile, the build-up to Global Divestment Day continued.
Resources
Our friends at the Climate Action Network International plan to publish daily ECO newsletters laying out their case to negotiators.
IISD’s reporting service will publish daily summaries and photos here.
The hashtags to track are #UNFCCC and #ADP2015. We’ll join the conversation via @tcktcktck and @adoptnegotiator
We'll also keep you abreast of developments in the wider world of climate activism and action at tcktcktck.org. In addition to Daily Tck emails, you can follow Geneva’s play-by-play updates and dig into the issues through the lens of Adopt a Negotiator’s trackers on the ground.
The Global Call for Climate Action is a network of more than 450 leading environmental, development and faith-based NGOs, youth groups and trade unions calling for a fair, ambitious and binding climate change agreement and a low-carbon future. Learn more at tcktcktck.org.
I'm Joshua Wiese, Project Director for Global Call for Climate Action, where I oversee GCCA's Adopt a Negotiator and Fresh Air projects. Fresh Air is a GCCA initiative that connects climate and energy bloggers to relevant work being done by GCCA partner organizations.
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The 2014 People's Climate March accelerated civic momentum and successfully demanded world leaders to reach an adequate and just treaty at the December 2015 UN Climate Talks in Paris.
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