Posted on June, 02 2008

Bonn, Germany – The UN climate talks in Bonn need to be more than a talking shop, and must produce concrete results, the conservation organisation WWF said today. WWF and Oxfam representatives dressed up as polar bears today to distribute fortune cookies with 16 clear policy demands for the talks.

Government delegates from more than 100 countries will attend the UN climate change talks from 2-13 June 2008 in Bonn. The talks are the second step in a negotiations marathon that started last December in Bali where governments agreed to put in place a global climate agreement by the end of 2009 at a UN Summit in Copenhagen. The agreement will cover issues of emission reductions to prevent dangerous climate change combined with mechanisms and resources for mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and forests.

“If governments still think that the talks in 2008 are a leisurely affair they are utterly mistaken,” says Kim Carstensen, Director of the WWF Global Climate Initiative. “To achieve progress in Copenhagen next year, countries need to agree in Poland at the end of this year on the options and basic ideas that need to be negotiated further in 2009.”

At their last meeting in Bangkok, governments failed to put on the table a detailed work programme and did not progress beyond the decisions taken at the Bali climate summit. In Bonn, negotiators must identify options for the necessary emission reductions and for mobilizing the resources needed.

On the financing of clean energy and adaptation, governments need to identify and commit to developing tools for a finance framework, which guarantees predictable and secure resources for low-carbon development in developing countries. Financing on climate issues must be additional to existing development aid. Development aid is aimed at alleviating poverty in the poorest countries, and should not be mixed with funding aimed at solving the global climate crisis. All payments, whether for development or for the climate, must be measurable, reportable, and verifiable. In return, developing countries must commit to putting the necessary national development policies in place that will allow for effective adaptation and ensure less emissions.

“Industrialized countries need to respect their obligation and responsibility to take the lead in fighting climate change,” says Kathrin Gutmann, WWF Climate Policy Coordinator. “There is a clear difference between developing and industrialized countries, and no ‘major emitters club’ can paper over this fact.”

Some countries will again try to cast doubt over the range of mid-term reduction commitments – between 25-40 per cent by 2020 was agreed between Kyoto Parties in Bali. Governments need to confirm this range and not just rely on long-term 2050 targets.

Spokespeople:
Kim Carstensen, Director, WWF Global Climate Deal Programme, +45 40 34 36 35, k.carstensen@wwf.dk.
Kathrin Gutmann, WWF Climate Policy Coordinator, [49] 162 29 144 28, gutmann@wwf.de.

Media contacts:
Martin Hiller, WWF Global Climate Change Programme (English, German, French) t +41 79 347 2256, mhiller@wwfint.org (on location from 8 June). Moira O’Brien-Malone, Head of Media Relations, WWF International, +41 79 377 7958, MOBrien@wwfint.org (in Switzerland).


The policy demands in the Fortune Cookies:
A joint stunt by WWF and Oxfam on Monday morning tries to ensure that government delegates attending the climate talks get some direction for their negotiations in the coming two weeks. The two NGO put out fortune cookies with sixteen messages to the delegates – framing clearly, where progress has to be made.

1. Keeping global warming well below 2°C must be the objective of a post-2012 climate regime.

2. The post-2012 deal must guarantee poor countries’ right to development.

3. “MRV” resource transfers from industrialised countries for adaptation and climate-friendly development are an essential pre-condition for developing country action.

4. Funding from industrialised countries to finance adaptation in developing countries must be new, predictable, and adequate – and must be additional to existing ODA commitments.

5. The Copenhagen deal has ensure that tens of billions of US$ annually are transferred from industrialised countries to developing nations to finance adaptation and low carbon development.

6. In the future regime, industrialised countries must commit to legally binding, absolute emission cuts of at least the upper end of 25-40% by 2020.

7. To keep warming below 2°C, global emissions must peak in the next decade and be cut by 80% by 2050 compared to 1990.

8. The US must rejoin the global fight against climate change by committing to binding, absolute reduction targets with a comparable effort to the Annex I group, i.e. 25-40% by 2020.

9. EU domestic emissions must go down by at least 30% by 2020, from 1990 levels.

10. The post-2012 climate regime needs to cover emissions from aviation and shipping sectors, starting with Annex I countries.

11. Newly industrialised countries such as South Korea, Saudi Arabia or Singapore should take on binding reduction commitments under the post-2012 regime.

12. The climate impacts on least developed and small island developing countries should be the basis for assessing the adequacy of mitigation efforts under the post-2012 deal.

13. Some key developing countries must lower emissions compared to their BAU projections – contingent upon adequate finance and technology support from Annex I.

14. Reform the CDM! We need new mechanisms to deliver real sustainable development, ensure global emission cuts, technology transfer and help with poverty reduction.

15. The future regime must build and expand upon the Kyoto Protocol. Binding absolute emission reduction targets for industrialised countries are here to stay.

16. Before Poznan, governments must have agreed the key concepts and proposals for the post-2012 agreement to negotiate during 2009. Bonn has to deliver progress towards this!