By yesterday, 11 December, it seemed that the political chickens were coming home to roost at COP24.
Is the world ambitious enough to do something about climate change?
As I've outlined in previous posts on COP24 (see the list below), ostensibly the main objective of this conference is to get the so-called "rulebook" for implementing the Paris Agreement negotiated and agreed by all the Parties at this Conference of the Parties (COP). Recall from previous posts that the magic numbers are
- not more than 2°C rise in global temperatures over pre-Industrial era levels (consequences pretty nasty but we'll probably make it through)
- not more than 1.5°C rise over pre-Industrial era levels (better - we manage to contain or prevent much of the future damage that further warming would cause).
Now, however, the technical phase of the negotiations is over and the political phase has begun. Called the Talanoa Dialogue, the objective of this phase of the conference is to take stock of where we are globally in our current efforts to limit global temperature rises to below 2°C and scale up ambition to achieve the Paris Agreement objectives.
Euractiv, who have been following this daily, reported:
“The Talanoa Dialogue is where the bigger problem is,” said Bas Eickhout, an EU lawmaker who is one of the two Green co-candidates for the European elections next year.
“There is a gap between what we are pledging and meeting the 2°C target, let alone 1.5°C,” Eickhout said as the UN talks enter a decisive stage this week.
“On this, Europe is not ready and this is going to be a key question during the second week of the negotiations,” he pointed out. “The player that could be in the lead during these negotiations is stuck,” the Dutch MEP told EURACTIV in Katowice.
Uh-oh - Europe's not ready?
Well, no. France is dealing with gilets jaunes who among other things despise the carbon tax on fuel, possibly toppling Emmanuel Macron from the virtual throne of European leadership he ascended to at the 11 November centenary of the stilling of the guns of World War I, Germany has had it up to here with migrants (and climate change will just create more migrants) and as of this evening who knows who is going to be Prime Minister in the United Kingdom. Personally, my bet is on Theresa May surviving this no-confidence motion from ministers in her own party, but Brexit has revealed the ugly sore of anti-migrant sentiment in the UK, and let's face it, they've got so many challenges to deal with internally - do they have the capacity to demonstrate strong global political leadership on climate change?
Europe showing leadership, or a European show of leadership?
Euractiv goes on to report:
Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU’s Climate Action and Energy Commissioner, arrived in Katowice saying the European Union was showing leadership after the EU executive published its 2050 strategy on climate change in late November.
The EU received praise for its long-term climate strategy, which lists eight pathways for Europe, including two where the EU reaches net-zero emissions by 2050.
But Eickhout drew a distinction between ongoing negotiations on the Paris rulebook and the political dimension of the Talanoa Dialogue, which is all about ramping up ambition to limit the rise in global temperatures to “well below 2°C”.
“What I see during these negotiations, is that everyone is eager to talk about the rulebook and trying to make it the issue of the week so as to get away from the ambition debate,” he said.
The Dutch lawmaker said Cañete’s insisting on the rulebook, which is indeed important to establish the technical rules of the Paris Agreement was “a cheap trick”.
“With focusing on ‘ambition’ for the rule book, the EU Commissioner tries to avert attention from the total lack of ambition when it comes to the most important part of this COP: concrete commitment to stricter climate targets to fulfil the Paris Agreement and limit the global warming to well below 1.5 degrees,” he said.
Which do you think will prevail, Ambition or the rulebook?
I'm pretty sure what Greta Thunberg would have to say - "Seize that moment when it comes."
Be Ambitious.
Past posts on this topic
https://steemit.com/cop24/@kiligirl/cop24-why-should-we-care-that-it-s-happening
https://steemit.com/cop24/@kiligirl/cop24-the-proceedings-begin-bad-news-and-good
https://steemit.com/cop24/@kiligirl/cop24-third-in-a-series-reflecting-on-its-relevance-and-achievements
https://steemit.com/cop24/@kiligirl/cop24-fourth-in-a-series-of-reflections-on-the-most-important-global-conversation-happening-right-now
https://steemit.com/cop24/@kiligirl/cop24-fifth-in-a-series-of-reflections-food-for-thought
https://steemit.com/cop24/@kiligirl/cop24-sixth-in-a-series-the-big-bad-wolf-starts-to-blow
References
https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/news/europe-stuck-on-climate-ambition-at-cop24/
https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/news/cop24-dairy-day-10/
https://cop24.gov.pl/news/
https://unfccc.int/topics/2018-talanoa-dialogue-platform
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