Civil society groups call on countries to make progress on implementation of Paris Agreement

Amidst a worsening climate crisis, countries have gathered in Bonn, Germany from the May 8 to 18 for three simultaneous meetings under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Representatives from Climate Action Network, a network of over 1000 civil society organisations working to fight climate change in 120 countries, have called on governments to use the climate talks in Bonn to pick up from where they left off in Marrakech in advancing work on the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Sven Harmeling, Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator at CARE International, emphasized that the urgency to get the Paris Agreement off the ground is crucial given that impacts from climate change are becoming more dire with more droughts in Africa and heatwaves in India.

The scale of ambition has to be commensurate with the urgency that we are seeing from impacts.

Speaking on the specifics of advancing work on implementation, he added. 

"We also need to see Parties at Bonn bring more clarity and progress on accounting modalities for climate finance which was a left-over issue from Marrakech," he said.

Brandon Wu, policy director from ActionAid US, highlighted that as uncertainty on the US' position on the Paris Agreement continues, civil society groups urge the Trump administration to stay in the Agreement but it must also respect the spirit of the Agreement to meet the goals of Paris.

"Even at the current scenario we don't meet the goals of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C and any move to scale down ambition will definitely not meet this goal – which is what Paris is all about," he added. There has been a remarkable push from Governors and Mayors to keep the US in the Agreement, he added.

Lucile Dufour, Climate Action Network France, spoke about the victory of Emmanuel Macron and the implications of this for climate action.

"Although Macron didn’t make energy transition a priority during his campaign, he is unlikely to stop environment progress. Without a push from other leaders and civil society he will not increase ambition so we still have work ahead of us. He did say France will keep the lead in global climate progress. If he is to do this he needs to adopt climate policies to increase international solidarity and domestic policies to raise ambition."

Observers have underlined the need for the 10-day international conference to advance substantive progress on the rules and processes that will fully operationalise the Paris Agreement. The session marks the half-way point to the finalisation of this process by 2018.

Earlier this month, the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group convened in Bonn for preparatory meetings to consolidate its positions and strategies ahead of the upcoming negotiations.

The group believes that significant pollution cuts and the transfer of finance and technology are needed in order to limit global warming to well below 1.5C, the limit identified by many scientists and social movements across the world.

Chair of the LDC Group, Gebru Jember Endalew, in statement, said: “Climate change is costing lives and livelihoods, particularly in poor and vulnerable countries so there is a need for urgent action by all countries. The LDC Group will continue to push for fair and ambitious action by all.”

Endalew added: “for many of our countries, keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius is a matter of survival. Therefore, we all have to work towards a cleaner, greener, low-carbon global society as soon as possible.

Many estimates suggest that more than $100 trillion is needed to transition to a global low-carbon society.

Bonn hosts next international climate meeting

The next international climate meeting will be in Bonn from 16-26 May, 2016.  

The Bonn meeting follows the adoption of a new global agreement on climate change in Paris in December, 2015. 

Parties will now begin negotiating how they will reach the goals set down in Paris.

In the lead up to this important meeting, the Chair of the Least Developed Countries group, Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, has stated that "reaching global agreement in Paris does not mean we can become complacent. We have drawn the blueprint and we must now begin construction of the rules and procedures that will bring the next phase of our global climate regime to life. A record-breaking 175 Parties united in New York on April 22 to sign the Paris Agreement, demonstrating that we have the political momentum to achieve this."

He said building off current political momentum, the LDCs will continue to push for early entry into force of the Paris Agreement, so that the world can benefit as soon as possible from its implementation.

"Even if current pledges are fulfilled, the world is on a path to over 3 degrees C of warming, well above the global goal of 1.5 degrees set in Paris; and that is without considering that developing countries need support to the tune of $4tn to meet these pledges," he noted.

On the issue of climate finance, Tosi Mpanu Mpanu said: "The least developed countries are the least responsible for climate change, with developed countries bearing both the historic responsibility and the capacity to respond. Public finance to support developing countries needs to rise to meet the challenge that lies before us."

On the importance of adaption, Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu stated: "The earth's oceans are rising, disease is spreading, our land is no longer producing the food we need to survive. The world must adapt to meet the unavoidable impacts of climate change head on, or face the consequences."

Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu also emphasised the necessity of pre-2020 action: "We cannot sit idly waiting for the Paris Agreement to commence, the window of opportunity to act on climate change is closing. We must harness the power of fresh global cooperation to strengthen pre-2020 action."

World’s poorest nations can set international agenda for sustainable development

The least developed countries (LDCs) can play a critical role in ensuring that the new global sustainability goals – which the international community aims to have in place by 2015 — are both fair and effective.

But, for this to happen, the LDCs will need to redefine themselves according to their strengths, act to improve governance, and promote greater solidarity both with each other and with more developed nations.

These are among the conclusions that an independent group of thinkers from the LDCs will share in a new briefing paper and a series of meetings next week in New York City.

The Independent Expert Group members work in research institutes, media, civil society organisations and government agencies in 11 of the LDCs.

The group, supported by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), aims to influence the UN’s efforts to define global sustainable development goals to take effect from 2015, when the Millennium Development Goals expire.

“The Least Developed Countries are in many ways the weakest but they also have strengths such as, their local knowledge and institutions, their culture and values and their resilience to uncertainty,” says Dr Tom Bigg of IIED who coordinates the group’s activities.

“The LDCs can be leaders in the post-2015 process by promoting new forms of international cooperation that enables greater solidarity and sharing of knowledge and responsibilities,” he says. “They can act to redefine development assistance by working harder to use their national wealth to meet the priorities of the poor and they can do more to share their lessons and experiences of how to measure development and manage environmental resources.”

Members of the Independent Expert Group will be in New York City on 24-26 June to provide input into a series of meetings about the post-2015 development agenda.

Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed, a researcher with IIED and member of the Independent Expert Group adds that “the Independent Expert Group sees solidarity, rather than partnership, as being the key to effective international collaboration in the post-2015 framework as it implies shared interests and responsibilities rather than the outdated donor-recipient relationship.”