Global Civil Society rallies to defend African Renewable Energy

Over 100 international civil society groups have launched a statement in solidarity with their African counterparts who are concerned about the role of France and the European Commission in undermining the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative.

The statement asserts that France and the European Commission abused their position as donors to rush through the endorsement of 19 projects which were not subject to the initiative's own evaluation criteria or social, environmental, and gender safeguards - against the wishes of several Africans on the AREI Board. Neither France nor the European Commission is formally a Board Member.

France and other developed country donors have pledged to provide funds to support "new and additional" renewable energy capacity, but African and international civil society groups say these promises are being broken as some already existing projects are being rebranded as AREI projects.

The first director of the Initiative's "Independent Delivery Unit" resigned in the aftermath of the Board Meeting, and on the sidelines of ongoing climate change negotiations in Bonn, Ségolène Royal  announced the nomination of a new head, Mr. Seyni Nafo of Mali.

Many in the civil society community are familiar with Mr. Nafo, have worked productively with him in the past, and look forward to engaging with him in his new role. They stress, however, that he must be set up for success by ensuring the AREI does not become donor-driven, but instead sticks to its principles of African ownership and transparent, inclusive governance.

"Decades of experience with development and climate finance shows us that letting rich countries make decisions for people living in developing countries is a surefire path to failure. The AREI is an exciting and innovative initiative exactly because it is African owned and African driven. France and the EU are to be commended for contributing to the AREI, but only if their contributions are actually new and additional money and come with no strings attached. By trying to use their status as donors to push through pet projects and take control away from Africans, they are doing far more harm than good. The AREI is too important for us to allow rich countries to get their way at the expense of African people once again," said Brandon Wu of ActionAid USA.

"Support for renewable energy in Africa was a major commitment made at the Paris Climate Summit, but now it seems that some in the French government and European Commission think this makes it OK to support projects without assessment against stringent social and environmental criteria. European governments need to ensure space for African leadership on renewable energy," said of Susann Scherbarth of Friends of the Earth Europe.

"Donor countries cannot bypass the AREI's safeguards and screening process and simply use it to rubberstamp their pre-existing projects. Doing so invalidates a crucial goal of the Initiative-- to break free from old and outdated development models, and instead give African people control of their future. The AREI is meant to do much more than just generate renewable energy, it's about making sure that the 630 million Africans that don't currently have access to electricity are able to reap the benefits that clean, reliable energy can provide. We urge the EC and others to help it succeed" said Annaka Peterson of Oxfam International.

The AREI was launched in 2015 in Paris during COP21 as an African-led initiative with the goal of providing at least 10 GW of new renewable energy to Africa's peoples by 2020, and put the continent on course to add at least another 300 GW and achieve universal access to energy for all Africans by 2030.

It was supported by $10 billion in pledges for 2015-2020 by developed countries in Paris, and has been hailed as a groundbreaking effort to bring clean, affordable, and reliable energy to millions of people in a democratic, human-rights focused approach.

Keep an eye on the signing of the Climate Change Agreement on 22 April

A record number of countries are expected to sign the historic climate agreement adopted last December in Paris at a signing ceremony hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 22 April.

More than 130 countries have confirmed that they will sign the Paris Agreement on 22 April, the first day that the agreement will be open for signature. 

This would surpass the previous record of 119 signatures for an opening day signing for an international agreement, set by the Law of the Sea in Montego Bay in 1994.  In addition, more countries have informally indicated that they will sign the agreement, with the numbers increasing rapidly each week.

Over 60 Heads of State and Government will attend the ceremony, including French President François Hollande, demonstrating the continued high level of engagement by world leaders to accept and implement the Paris Agreement.

The signing ceremony will mark the first step toward ensuring that the Paris Agreement enters into force as early as possible.  The agreement will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the Secretary-General.

The US and China, the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters, have already agreed to attend the UN signing ceremony. Commitments from the two nations that account for more than 40 percent of the world’s emissions make finalizing the Paris Agreement within our grasp. This is a big, big deal.

A number of countries have also indicated that they will deposit their instruments of ratification immediately after signing the agreement on 22 April.

The 22 April signing ceremony will also bring together leaders from civil society and the private sector to discuss efforts to boost financing for climate action and sustainable development, and to increase actions that would achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting average global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

“Paris was historic,” the Secretary-General said.  “But it’s only the beginning.  We must urgently accelerate our efforts to tackle climate change.  I encourage all countries to sign the Paris Agreement on 22 April so we can turn aspirations into action. ”

Bringing the Paris Agreement into Force – Next Steps and National Climate Plans

On 12 December 2015, countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris Agreement.

The legal nature of this new, international agreement requires the following actions and steps to bring it into force. How the large number of national climate plans will be handled in relation to the agreement is also explained below.

In addition, the Legal Affairs programme of the UNFCCC secretariat has prepared a legal version (http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/paris_nov_2015/application/pdf/paris_agreement_next_steps_post_adoption.pdf) of these steps for readers who require the important, detailed formal wording and terminology that relates to this major international agreement.

Entry into Force

The Agreement shall enter into force on the 30th day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 % of total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary. The Secretary-General of the United Nations will act as the Depositary of the Agreement.

To this end, the UNFCCC secretariat has made available information (http://unfccc.int/ghg_data/items/9354.php) on the most up-to-date total and per cent of greenhouse gas emissions communicated by Parties to the Convention on the website on the date of adoption of the Agreement.

Next Steps

The authentic text of the Paris Agreement in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, will be transmitted by the UNFCCC Executive Secretary to the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations in New York as soon as it becomes available.

Following this, certified true copies will be distributed to all Parties to the Convention and the Paris Agreement will open for signature at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 22 April, 2016 to 21 April, 2017.

The UN Secretary-General is convening a high-level signature ceremony for the Paris Agreement on 22 April, 2016 and is inviting all Parties to the Convention to sign the agreement at this ceremony, or at their earliest opportunity.

National Climate Plans

Meanwhile, the agreement also includes a change in status of the intended national climate action plans which almost all countries submitted to the UN ahead of Paris. These intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), which detail what each country intends to contribute towards reducing global emissions, are set to become nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

Parties to the agreement should communicate their first NDC no later than when the respective instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession has been submitted.

If a country has already submitted its INDC before joining the agreement, then that INDC will be considered the country’s first NDC, unless it indicates otherwise.

Moreover, a country has the opportunity of submitting a more ambitious NDC, before it submits or when submitting its respective instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

G20 and other countries should increase credibility of pledges on greenhouse gas emissions

Countries, including members of the G20, would have to strengthen the credibility of their pledges to limit or reduce annual emissions of greenhouse gases.
 

This is in order to build confidence in the Paris Agreement on climate change, according to a new report published by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The report provides the results of an analysis of “intended nationally determined contributions”, or INDCs, which were submitted by more than 180 countries ahead of the Paris climate change summit in December 2015, focusing on the credibility, rather than the ambition, of pledges about future emissions.

The report by Alina Averchenkova and Samuela Bassi concluded that “Governments have the opportunity to actively improve the credibility of their current and future commitments in their NDCs [nationally determined contributions], especially by strengthening: their policies and legislation; the transparency, effectiveness and inclusiveness of their decision-making process, and their climate change public bodies”.

It added: “This can be done, for example, by: adopting framework legislation and/or implementing carbon pricing mechanisms; assigning clear responsibility for climate change policy and establishing independent consultative bodies; creating inclusive processes for consulting and involving stakeholders; increasing the frequency of preparing greenhouse gas inventories; and improving public awareness about climate change.”

It identified key elements for the credibility against which each country’s pledges could be assessed. These were applied by the authors to the INDCs that were submitted by G20 members ahead of the Paris summit.

They concluded: “Almost all the emission reductions pledged by G20 countries appear to be underpinned by policy and legislation that is at least ‘moderately supportive’ in terms of credibility. However, G20 countries’ emissions targets were found to score lower on the transparency, inclusiveness and effectiveness of their decision-making processes and the level of political constraints to limit policy reversal, and on the existence of dedicated and independent public bodies on climate change.”

The report states: “No INDC from a G20 country is found to have ‘no credible basis’ across all the determinants explored in this analysis. However, there are significant differences in the level of and balance among the determinants of credibility for the individual G20 members.

“For many G20 members, most determinants appear to be ‘largely supportive’ in terms of credibility. These include the European Union and its individual G20 members (France, Germany, Italy and the UK), as well as South Korea.

“Several G20 members have determinants that are at least ‘moderately supportive’ in terms of credibility, but display a significant weakness in one determinant; this includes Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, South Africa and the United States.

“A number of G20 countries have scope for significantly increasing credibility across most determinants. These are Argentina, Canada, China, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.”

Africa joins global ‘sit-in-action’ in demand for fair and ambitious Paris Climate outcome

In the final hours of negotiation at the COP21 Paris climate conference, global civil society groups are mobilizing a massive 'sit-in action' with people holding key demands.

Participating groups include, WWF, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Oxfam, Action Aid, ITUC/trade unions, SustainUS, UKYCC, PACJA and CAN-I Secretariat.

The action is to build pressure in the last few hours to ensure that Parties deliver a fair and ambitious outcome for the people and the planet.

“It is about showing our strength and determination in putting forward our concrete demands in this critical juncture for the negotiations,” read an agenda plan.

African civil society, under auspices of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), have tasked all stakeholders as the conference to ensure that a comprehensive, fair, ecologically just and legally binding agreement for a new treaty is delivered by the end of this week.

It says anything less will be unacceptable to the long-suffering people of the continent of Africa.

“The present reality at the conference confirms that countries have spent the first week restating their old positions leaving most of the key debates unresolved,” said Sam Ogallah.

He has further called on Ministers to urgently inject energy into the process this week so that the agreement is fair enough reflecting the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and also addresses the issues of loss and damage, finance for adaptation and mitigation, whilst keeping the global warming well below 1.5⁰C.

According to Azeb Girma of LDC Watch, “there is serious need for financial support for adaptation in African countries, therefore Green Climate Fund (GCF) pledges need to increase. For the 2020 goal of 100 billion dollars per year, Paris is yet to make any serious progress on clarifying a pathway to achieve it.” Additionally, “the question of how climate finance can be scaled up predictably after 2020 remains unresolved with some developed countries obstructing discussions of a post-2020 pathway,” Azeb,  added.

“The time for posturing and sloganeering is over; it is time to make a deal. Paris may be the last chance we have to break the standoff that has prevented adequate climate action for decades. Negotiators can make history this week, but it is up to them to lead and not to fail,’ Rebecca Muna of ForumCC, Tanzania declared.

African groups at the conference believe that countries must agree to phase out fossil-fuel emissions to zero and lead the world to a renewable energy future if the Paris treaty is to make a difference.

Actions on adaptation and compensation for loss and damage must be addressed with regard to their true scale and be at the core of the Paris agreement. The businesses causing the problem must be held accountable and victims of their dirty actions must be duly compensated.

COP21: Africa demands urgency in final lap of climate negotiations

African civil society observers have warned that the climate talks in Paris could trigger even greater climate crisis in Africa, if care is not taken to protect the rights of poor and vulnerable in the continent.

“Any climate change deal that is leading us straight to 3^oC of warming, causing untold problems of hunger, starvation, disasters, conflicts and wars in Africa is not in the interest of the continent and should be rejected,” says Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

For him, “No deal at such point is better than giving legitimacy to a death sentence”.

Ministers engaged in high-level climate negotiation sessions at COP21 have only two choices – to reach a deal or create climate chaos.

The African CSOs under the umbrella of PACJA have been vocal in demands for emission cuts and provision of adequate climate finance to address the impacts of climate change.

“We were promised that emission cuts would be strengthened this year, they weren’t. Instead African countries are been saddled with additional load of paying for climate debt which they least contributed,” said Augustine Njamnshi, Technical/Political Affairs Chair of PACJA.

PACJA has highlighted that African countries need no less than $50billion per year for adaptation – along with no more than 1.5 degrees of warming.

The UN Climate Change Talks are focused on increasing climate actions in the near-term and on creating a new climate agreement in 2015 – to come in to effect in 2020.

The unprecedented number of over 180 national climate action plans submitted ahead of the Paris meeting constitutes a clear signal to the world of seriousness of the issue at stake.

"The challenge we face now is to crystalize that call into a cohesive legal framework that brings the world together in action and implementation," said Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary.

In finalizing a agreement at the end of this week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has reminded the Ministers of the direction that more than 150 world leaders had provided on the first day of the meeting and their pledge for full support for a robust agreement.

"Never before have so many Heads of State and Government gathered in one place at one time with one common purpose. Leaders have assured me they will work to remove any roadblocks," he said.

Africa entered into the negotiations with a common position to demand equity, fair deal and legally binding agreement.  

The African Ministerial Council on Environment (AMCEN) is resolved to press this agenda in Paris.  “We are not beggars,” stated said Uganda’s minister of water and environment Ephraim Kamuntu. “The financial obligation we are asking is not charity; its climate debt”.

The consensus is that the major and historic polluters must take a fair share of responsibility not only to cut their emissions, but also to help the suffering adapt to climate impacts.

“Countries must be mandated to include contributions on all the elements including provision of money for adaptation for developing countries by developed countries,” said Robert Chimambo, of Zambia Climate Change Network.

Mogens Lykketoft, President of the UN General Assembly, has cautioned that a robust universal climate agreement in Paris is an essential foundation for the world to avoid crossing the threshold of a maximum two degrees Celsius global average temperature rise, agreed by governments to be the defense line against unmanageable climate change. "Without your leadership, no amount of collaborative initiatives will suffice," he said.

Story originally commissioned by Vita International. 

http://www.afronline.org/?p=40944

Global Business Community Comes to Paris with Solutions for Climate Challenge

Nearly 400 business leaders gathering in Paris today, calling for a strong climate change agreement to help them implement the unprecedented set of cross-cutting corporate actions on climate.

The actions are being taken in key areas such as carbon pricing, finance, responsible policy engagement and science-based target setting.

In recent years, many business initiatives on climate change have emerged and have set the groundwork for a new, low-carbon economy.

Today, that low-carbon business sector is firmly established and more companies are joining the momentum, setting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, building resilience in their operations and in the communities in which they operate, and publically reporting on their performance to take climate action and meet targets.

Institutional investors and other financial intermediaries such as insurers and banks have also become increasingly vocal and organized on climate change.

The disruptive effects climate change could likely have on the medium to long-term performance and stability of their portfolios.

The Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) focus on Business is convened as the high-level event of the Caring for Climate Business forum, organized by the UN Global Compact, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which have come together under the banner of the world’s largest business coalition for climate change, backed by 450 CEOs in 65 countries.

Since 2013, Caring for Climate signatories have reduced their carbon footprints by 12%.

High-level speakers, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, France Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Ségolène Royal, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and the UN’s top climate change official Christiana Figueres, will join chief executives to advance the climate change agenda. 

Participants put forward an overview of all contributions by business and investors towards the COP21 UN climate change conference, highlighting commitments around concrete, cross-cutting solutions that impact the entire strategic management of a company.

The event will also include an interactive discussion on pricing the cost of carbon emissions between more than 80 chief executives from the business sector.

Companies want to accelerate business leadership on carbon pricing with a 2020 time horizon.

COP21 Paris: Africa pessimistically hopeful of negotiation outcomes

At the end of week one, negotiators representing nearly 200 nations at the UN Climate Change Talks have turned over a draft text for ministers to clean up for an expected deal to be signed by governments.

But groups representing the African interest at COP21 in Paris are not enthused with the pace of negotiations. They have expressed pessimistic hope in the outcomes of the expected agreement.

“We hope for the best, but we’re very pessimistic,” says Mithika Mwenda, Secretary-General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), a civil society umbrella body.

Mithika particularly wants the issue of loss and damage addressed in the agreement as “the cry from the climate impacted people of Africa, especially women, children and smallholder farmers, is on the rise. The cries also indicate that they are losing their farmlands and animals to floods and drought which most of the time is all their live savings”.

Inspite of the obstacles and the challenges, Seth Osafo, a leading member of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), thinks there will be an outcome, but one that will not be strong.

“It will be weak, it will be the lowest common denominator; it will not solve the problem that the world is facing,” he observed. “Knowing the vulnerability of Africa; the continent that is most affected by the adverse impacts of climate change, definitely some of our concerns will be addressed but I don’t think we’ll get everything”.

Among the many loopholes in the 21page blueprint for the global climate deal is how much money developed countries will provide to developing countries in climate adaptation programmes, whilst cutting their greenhouse gas emissions.

The 2009 Copenhagen Accord was to provide short- and long-term ‘climate finance’ to help developing countries adapt to climate impacts. Developing nations pledged $10 billion a year from 2010-2012, ramping up to US$100 billion a year starting in 2020.

This was touted as a way to help developing countries avoid high-carbon pathways of development by adopting lower-emitting power sources such as solar or natural gas.

As at now, only $10.9billion has been pledged, out of which only $5.2billion has been delivered. And developing countries want promises fulfilled.

The Pan-African Parliamentary Network on Climate Change (PAPNCC) is disappointed that rich countries want to backtrack on their earlier commitments to take leadership in climate action, by providing adequate finance and reduce emissions as science demands.

“We are struggling with adaptation on a daily basis especially as we struggle with climate-induced shocks and the need for technical and financial support to do this... We are negotiating our future, the future of our children’s children, as well as the health of the planet,” said Awudu Cyprian Mbaya, Executive Secretary of PAPNCC.

Mr. Osafo however says the expected finance for climate adaptation will not flow unless prevailing economic conditions in developed countries improve.

“The whole issue of climate change has become an economic issue because it is basically energy and energy is crucial to the world economy…and until the conditions improve, I think developing countries will be reluctant to give monies as promised”, he stated.

Whilst the negotiations are ongoing in Paris, millions of people in Africa risk losing their livelihoods to the combined severe impacts of extreme weather conditions.  To adapt to the changes in the climate, the people need the resources to access information, technology and other support systems.

“If we come out of Paris with a deal, however weak that it is, that assures that the people that are suffering the most will continue to pay, that a farmer have to be sold a technology to solve his problems relating to climate change, then we have failed,” said Augustine Njamnshi of PACJA Cameroon.

Story originally commissioned by Vita International

http://www.vitainternational.media/en/article/2015/12/06/cop21-paris-africa-pessimistically-hopeful-of-negotiation-outcomes/107/

http://www.afronline.org/?p=40931

Vietnam pledges $1 million to Green Climate Fund at COP 21

Vietnam has pledged a contribution to the Green Climate Fund at the Paris COP 21 talks, further broadening the base of support to the Fund. 43 states have now pledged support to the Fund, including both developed and developing countries.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced the pledge of USD 1 million during his address to the Paris climate conference plenary.

The Prime Minister emphasized that developed countries should take the lead in delivering their commitments and at the same time provide assistance for capacity building to developing countries in order to implement together the Paris agreement successfully.

Vietnam would nevertheless step up its efforts as well, he said.

“Greater efforts will be taken to fulfil our obligations under the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol. Vietnam accordingly will contribute USD 1 million to the Green Climate Fund for the period 2016-2020,” he stated.

Prime Minister Dung reiterated that, despite limited resources, “Vietnam will continue to implement the national strategy, programme, and plans in response to climate change in various areas with concrete measures.” 

He recalled that Vietnam’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) includes a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% by 2030 compared to  business-as-usual (BAU) projections, and by up to 25% conditional upon international support. 

Vietnam’s INDC also identifies the threat posed by rising sea levels to the Mekong Delta region among others and the need for climate resilience measures to be taken.

GCF opened its initial resource mobilization in October 2014, rapidly reaching about USD 10 billion equivalent by the end of that year. The Fund remains open for contributions during its first funding period (2015-2018), and accepts them on an ongoing basis.

Paris pledges €1 million to Green Climate Fund

The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced a pledge of EUR 1 million (USD 1.05 million) to the Green Climate Fund.

The pledge was announced during a meeting between Mayor Hidalgo and Héla Cheikhrouhou, the Fund’s Executive Director, at the Paris Hôtel de Ville.

Paris is currently hosting the UNFCCC climate conference (COP 21).

Over 40 countries have pledged contributions to the Fund, which commenced its initial resource mobilization in 2014 and has so far raised about USD 10 billion equivalent, of which close to 60% has already been converted into signed agreements. 

Ms. Cheikhrouhou welcomed the pledge, stating that “it is a very strong signal that can be emulated by other cities and regions.” Mayor Hidalgo’s leadership, continued Ms. Cheikhrouhou, “could have a ripple effect” in encouraging other cities and regions to support the Fund.

Urging other cities to follow suit in pledging to the Fund, Mayor Hidalgo stressed the need for climate action at both the local and global levels. 

“Fighting against damaging climate change means putting in place ambitious domestic policies, but also providing the financial means to the most vulnerable countries so that they can protect their populations,” stated Mayor Hidalgo.

During the meeting with the Fund, Mayor Hidalgo explained that Paris was already active in North-South cooperation with other cities, including in Tunis, Kinshasa, and Brazzaville. Paris has a particular interest in developing the resilience of cities to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.

Ms. Cheikhrouhou recalled that supporting sustainable cities is an investment priority for the Fund, both to improve their resilience and reduce their emissions.

The Fund approved its first eight projects at its Board meeting in Zambia last month, for a total GCF investment of USD 168 million.

GCF will build its investment profile over the coming years and is seeking ambitious projects from developing countries that will catalyse the transition to low-emission, climate-resilient development.

The Fund remains open for contributions during its first funding period (2015-2018), and accepts them on an ongoing basis.

Report: Paris climate talks poise world on brink of huge expansion in renewable capacity

National plans to tackle climate change made ahead of the Paris climate talks indicate the world is on the brink of a huge expansion in renewable capacity, says a new report.

The plans, called INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions), commit governments to a major expansion of renewable power.

The report, Transformational INDCs: how new renewables pledges could transform the economics of wind and solar, by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and Climate Nexus, shows that India and China’s pledges alone could double the current global capacity of wind and solar in the next fifteen years.

Significant growth in renewable energy capacity, and falling costs of generating electricity from renewable power, is a key difference between the Paris climate summit and the failed Copenhagen talks of 2006.

The report says that the INDCs highlight the transformative potential of the Paris process. If the renewables expansion the INDCs suggest lead to further cost reductions, it will enable even greater take up of clean technologies, creating a virtuous circle of renewable deployment. But the transformation is dependent on a successful outcome from the Paris negotiations.

“Businesses and investors are looking to negotiators in Paris to agree a new global climate deal so that they can unleash a wave of new investment in clean energy,” said Richard Black, director of the ECIU.

“It reinforces the view that increasingly, seeing climate change in terms what it will cost is nonsensical. As other analyses have shown, addressing climate risks effectively presents massive opportunities not just to maintain growth, but to have better growth.

“This report also shows how the deployment of climate solutions like renewable energy technologies is disrupting existing business models, particularly in energy. Businesses and governments that resist this transformation risk getting left behind.”

The report also notes that in comparison with renewable energy, the costs of low-carbon nuclear power are rising, in OECD countries at least. It says that the transformed economics of renewables such as wind and solar power make a compelling reason to decarbonise, even for countries currently uncommitted to a clean energy transition. Increased capacity and falling costs are likely to make renewables the most attractive option for climate laggards as well as climate leaders, it says, making the shift to clean energy an unstoppable force.

This level of transformation is dependent on a successful outcome from the Paris negotiations, however, as many countries’ INDCs are conditional on a successful global deal.

“This report clearly sets of the prize awaiting countries if they agree a new climate deal in Paris, and the missed opportunities if they fail,” said Richard Black.  

“The implementation of many county’s INDCs depends on a successful outcome in Paris, so there really is a massive amount at stake in these talks.”

The INDCs not only secure emission reductions, says the report, they also help accelerate the ongoing transformation of the energy sector, making sectoral scale investments in clean energy that will drive prices down even further, permitting cheaper and thus deeper and steeper emission reductions in the futures.

Leaders declare support for Carbon Pricing to transform global economy

Six heads of state and government and the leaders of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund have called on companies and countries to follow up on their ambitions for Paris by putting a price on carbon to drive investment for a cleaner, greener future.

In a remarkable show of unity on the first day of the climate talks in Paris, heads of state and government from a number of countries called on the world to start pricing carbon pollution as a key to combating climate change and transforming the global economy.

They included the leaders of France, Chile, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico and Canada.  

“The goal is to gradually set a sufficiently high carbon price around the world to encourage better behaviour,” said H.E. President François Hollande of France. “In France, the Energy Transition Act has already made provision for a substantial increase in the price of carbon, to €22 per metric tonne next year and a projected €100 by 2030. In Europe, we will also improve our carbon market while ensuring that the most compliant countries remain competitive. Very quickly, a company consuming less CO₂ should gain a decisive competitive advantage.”

The call by heads of state and government was echoed by ministers and CEOs from around the world at another event today in Paris to officially launch the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC). The Coalition brings together key governments such as Mexico, Germany, France, Chile and California, along with nearly 90 global businesses and NGOs. 

Partners in the Coalition have adopted an agreed course of action that advances carbon pricing by collecting and sharing the best evidence of successful carbon pricing policy, mobilizing business support for more ambitious action, and convening leadership dialogues around the world with the goal of tackling the political challenges that prevent greater use of carbon pricing. 

“We are seeing increasing momentum from heads of state and other global leaders to put a price on carbon pollution, but more action is needed to cut harmful polluting emissions,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “These statements of support from leaders today are critically important, as is the work of Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition. We must ensure that this momentum for carbon pricing translates into impact on the ground.”

"A successful outcome to the Paris climate talks will send a powerful message that nations can work together for the good of the planet,” said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. The right carbon price should be at the center of this effort. Indeed, given the slump in energy prices, there has never been a better time to transition to smart, credible and effective carbon pricing. Policy makers need to price it right, tax it smart, and do it now."

Ahead of the Paris talks more than 90 developed and developing countries, including the European Union, have indicated plans to use international, regional, or domestic carbon pricing schemes for mitigation action.  

Pricing carbon can deliver multiple benefits including reducing health and environmental impacts, like premature deaths from exposure to outdoor air pollution. It provides governments with the financing needed to support sustainable development as well as spurring greater investments in low carbon growth.

Through carbon pricing, countries can provide an incentive for businesses and investors to reduce their exposure to carbon, while accelerating investments in clean energy, clean transport and clean technologies.

About 40 nations and 23 cities, states and regions have implemented or are putting a price on carbon with programs and mechanisms covering about 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The coverage is expected to grow given China’s recent announcement to bring in a national emissions trading system in 2017.

A recent World Bank 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 are now worth about $50 billion.