Developed Countries Try to Dodge Climate Obligations at UN Climate Talks
BANGKOK, THAILAND, October 5, 2009 -- In a week coinciding with massive loss of life in the Asia Pacific region as a result of extreme weather,
Friends of the Earth International decried attempts by developed countries to undermine their obligations under the UN climate convention.
Friends of the Earth International urged developed countries to cut
their greenhouse gas emissions and provide public finance for developing
countries in line with science and climate justice at United Nations
climate talks in Bangkok, Thailand.
Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth US said:
“The United States administration should not bully its way into gutting
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. If the world’s richest
country wants to claim itself as a leader, it needs to lead a race to
the top and not a race to the bottom. US Senate legislation introduced
this week – with incredibly weak targets and 2 billion tons of offsets -
does not give us reason to believe that President Obama intends to
deliver on his message of change.”
Linda Ijmker of Friends of the Earth Netherlands said
“The recent climate finance proposal from the EU Commission pushes the
bulk of costs for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries back
to the developing countries themselves, and to theoretical financial
flows from the carbon market.”
“We urge all European member states to correct this inadequate financing
proposal and to truly meet the obligations under the international
climate convention to provide financing for the adaptation, technology
sharing and mitigation needs of the developing countries, in addition to
reducing their own emissions.”
Stephanie Long of Friends of the Earth International said
“Developed countries have been accumulating a climate debt for the past
200 years, based on their fossil fuel intensive development. This
climate debt must be repaid if we are to have any chance of avoiding
dangerous climate change. This means that those that are historically
responsible for climate change must reduce their emissions to give more
resources to developing countries so they can develop sustainable
economies.”
“The proposals from the EU Commission and US administration are
completely inadequate, with almost complete reliance on the private
sector to provide funds to fight climate change. The wealthy
industrialised countries must start providing funds to clean up the mess
they have caused.”
According to sources close to developing countries delegations, the
patience of developing countries is wearing thin at the UN negotiations
on climate change.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT IN BANGKOK
Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International: +61 414 136 461
(Australian mobile)
Karen Oreinstein, Friends of the Earth US +1 202 640 8679 (US mobile)
Linda IJmker, Friends of the Earth Netherlands +66 870 921 738 (Thai mobile)
NOTES
1. What is Climate Debt ?
The climate debt is owed for the historical overproduction of greenhouse
gas emissions by developed countries that saturated the atmosphere –
considered to be a global common – thereby reducing the environmental
space available for developing countries. More than a financial debt,
the climate debt is also owed for the impacts of climate change that is
suffered in past and present in developing countries, and future
generations.
Therefore, the climate debt based on the historical responsibility of
the developed countries must be paid through a range of actions. This
includes immediate and rapid emissions reduction, financial transfers to
the Global South, and global sharing of appropriate technology and
knowledge to:
- enable sufficient environmental space within sustainable ecological
limits for developing countries
- to enable developing countries to adopt low carbon societies
- provide reparations for damages, and
- build resilience of communities to the impacts of climate change
The Plurinational State of Bolivia submitted a proposal to recognise and
repay the Climate Debt to the UN Climate Change Convention, which has
been officially endorsed by Venezuala, Paraguay, Cuba, Malaysia and Sri
Lanka. The submission is based on modelling of the historic and
continued developed country overuse of the Earth's capacity to absorb
greenhouse gases and the impacts of climate change as a result of this
overpollution.
2. The EU Commission climate finance proposal assumes:
- that developing countries should source as much as 40% of the finance
needed from their own national budgets
- that 40% of money will be source via the carbon market – private
sector financing that will, for a large part, double count as emissions
reductions in the developed countries.
- and only about 20% of the funds will be sourced from public finance.
-Article 4 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
requires developed countries to provide financial support from developed
to developing countries for technology cooperation and transfer,
conservation of greenhouse gas 'sinks' and adaptation. The Bali Action
Plan, agreed in 2007, also reiterated the crucial nature of funding
flows that are new and additional and which are “measurable, reportable,
and verifiable”. Developing country states have interpreted “new and
additional” to demand that developed countries provide these funds in
addition to existing Official Development Assistance commitments of 0.7%
of gross domestic product.
