COP15 Outcomes and Opinions

The dust is settling after the whirlwind of COP15 in Copenhagen. The outcome of twelve days of intense negotiations has come to an ambiguous result at best.

At the eleventh hour political leaders agreed to an Accord that was negotiated outside of the official United Nations proceedings. Most nations have agreed to this Accord, but they are not bound by it and there are no mechanisms to make it binding. Some claim it's the realpolitic of high level negotiations and was the only way to get the big players at the table. Others claim it was was unorthodox, undemocratic, non-transparent, and exclusionary.

The good

• there was an agreement
• both USA and China were involved
• the target of 2 degrees is the first admission by the US of the aggressive level of action required and the agreement to review an attempt to lower the target to 1.5 degrees is even better
• recognition that developed countries have a carbon debt that they owe to the developing countries

The bad

• there is nothing to bind participants to any standards of measurement or action
• there is nothing to bind parties to their financial commitment toward adaptation and mitigation in developing countries
• the 30 billion startup fund and 100 billion to 2020 is woefully inadequate to address the level of input needed to assist developing nations in addressing climate change
• there are no timelines or prescriptive actions
• the 2 degree temperature limit is a death knell for small island states and many of the more vulnerable regions of the world

We shall see how it plays out over the next year, whether the accord stays relevant and forms the foundation for a binding agreement or if it turns out to be simply a publicity play that goes nowhere. The next few months will tell the real story of Copenhagen.

You can read the full text of the Copenhagen Accord here.

100 Places To Remember Before They Disappear

I will bring home many memories of Copenhagen and the climate talks. Right now they are flooding my sleep-deprived, jet-lagged brain. It's hard to sort out the emotion from the business dealings, from the many people I met, and the frustrating politics of the whole thing.

But the image seared onto my brain right now is the beauty and tragedy of CARE Square and the stunning display of "100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear". In the heart of Copenhagen, in a scenic square the aid group CARE International has assembled an outdoor gallery of photographs from this stunning collection that features 100 photographs from one hundred different places around the world in risk of disappearing or seriously threatened by climate change.

The pictures are taken by some of the world´s best photographers and all the places are based on reports from UN´s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I did not meet anyone at the COP15 who was not moved to tears when confronted by the picturesque documentation of the destruction of climate change.

Words fail me when I think about it. You can see these gorgeous photos at the web site, 100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear. You can even buy the book.

Cities on the frontline of climate change

ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Iniatives) President David Cadman was speaking today at the launch of a carbon accounting centre for cities. The Vancouver city councillor took the opportunity to criticize national negotiators, "I don't think that the national leaders here negotiating in Copenhagen know how much the cities and sub-national governments have already achieved with emission reduction strategies and policies. Therefore they are underestimating what nations can do and what they can commit to."

He went on to say that cities represent 50% of the population now and will be 75% by 2030. Cities can and will continue to lead in making cuts to ghg's. He challenges the national governments and corporations to get on board with action to make the cuts that are necessary to survival and to meet targets that cities have already proved is very doable.

ICLEI launched a carbon accounting tool for cities that will apply standardized benchmarking and hold a central database so that the incredible work being done by cities is tracked, validated across a global standard, and held up to global leaders to show them what is achievable.

It's called CARBONN and will be administered out of Bonn, Germany ... hence the wordplay. It has the potential to unify municipalities by giving them the carbon accounting standards they need to compare criteria across jurisdictions. I just wonder if they understand the pressures our local governments face for devoting resources to a new accounting process. It could be a breakthrough, but here's hoping it's designed to make life easier for our municipalities. I'll be sure to investigate and get back to you.

Rock Star Energy Minister - Stephen Chu Speaks at Bright Green

I attended the "Bright Green" event today in Copenhagen. It is Denmark's showcase and trade show for green technology and innovation, a solutions-oriented compliment to the climate conference. Held in a large hockey rink-like venue, it was subdivided into large cube-like spaces for demonstrators to showcase their green-tech wares. The first projects to hit your eye as you entered were 2 impressive city projects. Scandinavian cities going 100% carbon neutral with rigorous targets and focused strategies. They were Copenhagen (setting the goal to be the first carbon neutral national capital in the world) and a smaller city in Sweden that will be 100% carbon neutral in 2 years.

These cities will get there with renewable energy, cogeneration, district heating, public transit, energy efficiency, and innovative planning: a whole lot of small solutions taken together to make a big difference.

Dropped in the midst of these practical working solutions and realistic targets, came the rock star Energy Minister, Stephen Chu. I was excited when I heard Obama's high profile, Nobel-Prize winning Energy Minister was speaking at Bright Green. I eagerly joined the several hundred other folks sitting in the stands in front of the 3 movie screens showing his power point presentation.

I was shocked at how out of touch his energy solutions were with the real world solutions going on all around him in Scandinavia. Sure he talked about renewable energy and improving efficiency, but then he went off on a wild goose chase about swimming pool sized batteries, large hydro dams, nuclear energy, and high tech research into energy from nothing. Huh?

Why does it have to be about a big bang, megaproject Mr. Chu? Check out the very city you're visiting today. Free bicycles for everybody. Incredible public transit. Wind turbines. District heating.

But then again, you don't win you the Nobel Prize by putting in bike lanes.

No rest in Copenhagen

Working 6am to 11pm, meeting lots of great people and working on interesting opportunities.

If folks only knew the kind of generous and socially-conscious proponents that I work with to help them bring revenue to their communities through offsets and the Clean Development Mechanism, I don't think I'd hear so much criticism of the carbon offsets. It's easy to sit in Toronto or Halifax and analyse dispassionately about the inherent wrongs associated with the carbon market, but when you see thousands of projects that help people in developing countries to get their sustainability projects off the ground, it's hard to be the cynical observer.

I'll stop ranting now and share my favourite sign from the protests yesterday: "There is no planet B".

No time to blog about all the events and ideas that I'm dying to talk about. Back to work.

Scenes from the Bella Center - COP15

Hopenhagen, Copehagen

They know about Canada

Lineup of cameras
Looking down at the Hall
Presenters from Bhutan

Hopenhagen

I made it to the city of 'hope'. After a day and a half of airports and close connections, I'm here in Copenhagen. On 3 hours of sleep in the past 36, I'm up at 2am, too pumped to sleep.

The city is vibrating with hope. In fact, they're shouting from billboards, t-shirts, and every advertising space available, a new name for the city. They're calling in Hopenhagen.

Everything in this beautiful old town is transformed and dedicated to the climate summit. We were so tired and so inspired that a couple of the more sentimental among us were moved to tears to see the effort, creativity, and beauty of the art and demonstrations in the city centre.

Probably should go get some sleep so I can take it all in. Tomorrow I'll register and make it to the United Nations negotiation hub at the Bella Conference Center.

Premier's Photo Op

Link to the NS Government News Release about our mission to Copenhagen.

Here we are, Nova Scotia's business delegation at the News Conference with the Premier. (I'm standing happily in the front row on the Premier's right.)

A Maritime Send Off

Today I will attend an official reception hosted by our Premier, Darrell Dexter. An exclusive 'Meet and Greet' for the Copenhagen delegates is being held at Province House this afternoon, complete with photo op and media in attendance. Better wear the good suit!

Tomorrow, off to Stanfield International to start the overnight journey to Copenhagen.

Read our corporate press release.

It Begins! COP15 in Copenhagen

It's official. The Conference of Parties 15 has begun. Those of us going with the Nova Scotia business mission are chomping at the bit to get there now that the meetings have launched. The air around here is electric.

I had the fortune to be named Head of Delegation for the observer group from Nova Scotia and it is becoming more than just an honourary positition, as the correspondence from the United Nations is coming fast and furious. It seems the conference centre in Copenhagen may be 'overbooked'. The United Nations grants accreditation to observer organizations to gain entrance to the conference centre, to host side events and in some cases, distribute information and post displays. The Environmental Services Association of Nova Scotia is one such organization and we've been attending as a provincial delegation since COP11, one of few, if not the only organization to attend as official representative of a Canadian province.

In the past few days, we've received a flurry of official-looking pdf documents (yes, much more formal than a simple email message) that describe new security procedures and restrictions on admittance to the site. It seems that 15,000 folks are registered and accredited to attend the COP in a conference centre that holds 14,000 bodies. And the UN has done the math. No panic button has been pushed, but there may be a quota system put in place and the numbers will be closely tracked.

All that means that we will be tracking our own delegation's attendance and sharing quota chits for attendance. Most of us arrive in Copenhagen on Thursday. We'll have our elbows out as we wedge our way into the Bella Center. Watch out world. Nova Scotia is on the way.

Defending Carbon Offsets

Who knew that half of this carbon gig would be spent defending the very concept of carbon offsets. I suppose other professions are similarly saddled with an unpopular impression or distorted image. But I can’t think of many that are more misunderstood. As carbon credit consultants we often have to explain to people what it is we do and then defend it to the very same people who didn’t ‘get it’ 5 minutes ago. It comes with the territory of being on the cutting edge of a brand new field. I just wish I had a forum for shouting out to a whole whack of people at once. Oh ya, maybe this blog thing can serve the purpose.

Indulge me while I use that shopworn device of the question and answer format.

Will offsets save the environment and stop global warming? Uh, no. They are a tiny policy strategy in a whole toolbox of actions that need to be implemented to stop global warming. So stop blaming offsets for not being the be all and end all to save the planet. No one is claiming that they will.

Do offsets exploit the poor and help the rich? No they don’t. The same folks who get rich from any other resource will get rich on offsets. Offsets won’t hurt those in poverty and in some cases will actually bring money into the pockets of the disadvantaged.

Are there dishonest folks taking advantage of the concept of offsets? You betcha. Of course there are bad offsets, fabricated offsets, and some really shady characters selling snake oil.

Do those bad offsets invalidate the whole concept of offsets? No way. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. This is a new industry based on a whole new commodity. There will be growing pains and there will be bad people who will take advantage of the ignorance of the general public.

So if they won’t save the planet and they don’t significantly alleviate poverty, what’s so great about offsets? Carbon offsets take an environmental goal (that we need to reduce ghg emissions) and place a market value on it. That’s pretty darned revolutionary. Carbon offsets are an elegant little market incentive that causes financial capital to flow into sustainability projects. Carbon offsets accelerate sustainable development by helping project developers access financing they wouldn’t otherwise access. Carbon offsets cause money to flow into sustainable development projects that would not have seen the light of day otherwise.

No I’m not naive enough to believe that all offset projects are worthy and that every dollar spent on an offset reduces emissions, but in the aggregate a heck of a lot of projects are hitting the ground running and jumpstarting sustainable development in many unlikely places.

Okay, time to get off my soapbox and go pack for Copenhagen.

File 'The Story of Cap and Trade' in the Fiction Section

Wow. I’m an old social justice campaigner from way back. And I like someone who challenges authority and conventional wisdom. But badly done propaganda is badly done propaganda. It’s a shame that the Story of Stuff’s Annie Leonard did not do her homework when she decided to take on cap and trade in her new video, The Story of Cap and Trade.

As I watched this clever little diatribe, I tried to take note of every error and misleading statement in preparation for this blog. But thankfully I was rescued from having to write a thousand word rebuttal after coming across two cogent articles from Grist: Cataloguing The Errors by Eric de Place and Annie Leonard Misses the Mark by David Roberts.

We need to debate the details of cap and trade policy. We need a population that is literate in the issue of carbon policies and strategies. If the polemical Ms. Leonard gets the ball rolling with this errant missile, then I will take my hat off to her. In the meantime, please take everything you hear with a grain of salt. In a video full of misrepresentation and half-truths, she did get one thing right ... ‘the devil *is* in the details’.

Deloitte Publishes Carbon Accounting Report

Carbon accounting is becoming a foundation of business planning and risk management. I couldn't agree more. Deloite is a global leader in accounting and financial management services.

Once upon a time my career was 'out there'. It's trending mainstream when Deloitte is onto it.

http://www.prlog.org/10421607-deloitte-publishes-carbon-accounting-report.html

Getting Ready for Copenhagen

Besides the mundane activities of getting prepared to travel overseas (packing, passport, paperwork), there is the exercise of wrestling with massive amounts of information flowing from every possible source of information I know. Parceling out my time to what is important is becoming more difficult every day.

In spite of the swirl of politics surrounding national leaders as they jockey for position at the negotiating table, the focus for me as a carbon consultant is to cut through the spin and connect with other professionals and clients who will be attending the mega-climate event. Over the past few years, the COP meetings (Conference of Parties) have grown beyond the climate negotiations among national governments. These meetings have become a hub for policymakers at every government level (subnational, provincial, cities), for scientists, for non-governmental organizations, development agencies, financial institutions, utilities, green tech firms, and carbon industry professionals like me. We go to connect with our clients who are producing sustainability projects, to connect with potential funders, to learn about the latest industry developments, and to network with like-minded folk.

One of the most colourful components of the COP meetings is the Side Events. At Side Events, observer organizations and governments host promo pieces, forums, and roundtables on topics ranging from the cerebral to the practical to the controversial, and everything in between. The Side Events have become an integral part of the climate meetings, a place to meet, to discuss and to learn.

Click here for a taste of the menu I can't wait to sample when I land in fair Copenhagen next month and learn more about the Side Events at COP-15.

Carbon Hunters Documentary was a Fair Primer on Carbon Credits

I watched with trepidation and more than a little anxiety about how my chosen vocation would be portrayed in a documentary aimed at the general public. There is a tendency among critics and journalists take potshots at carbon ‘traders’. In fact, there is a lot that is wrong with the industry. It’s an easy target. There are cowboys out there who will mislead and rip people off. This is a new industry that is rife with corruption and con artists trying to part honest folk from their dollars. Of course, those are the fringe players, but they exist nonetheless and they manage to tar the rest of us with their bad behavior.

But the Carbon Hunters was fair. I think it explained the mechanism of carbon trading fairly well. It covered a fairly complex topic and captured the difference between micro-credits, small offset projects, and larger certified units. It also drew a nice chronological narrative from the mechanisms beginnings with footage from Maurice Strong, one of the architects of the Clean Development Mechanism.

If you missed it the first time, the documentary will be replayed tonight on CBC Newsworld at 10pm Eastern. If you’re interested in learning about carbon credits and carbon trading it’s worth checking out.

Significant Move by President Obama and the USA Climate Team

Copenhagen negotiations will be difficult and the outcome is in doubt, but this is significant news.

Canadian Parliament Votes in favor of More Ambitious Action at UN Climate Summit

(Ottawa) Canadian parliament has sent an unambiguous message that they do not agree with the current minority federal government's climate change strategy. In a vote today on a Bloc Quebecois motion to take a more ambitious position going into the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen in less than two weeks, the three opposition parties voted in favor of the motion, with a count of 137 to 124.

This result comes less than a week after the release of polling that shows that over 75% of Canadians are embarrassed by the current government’s lack of leadership on climate change.

The Bloc motion recommends that Canada go to Copenhagen with a position that encompasses three points as follows:

1. A 25% reduction domestically in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 based on 1990 levels

2. The need to limit the rise in average global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels

3. Support for developing countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change and to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions

These three points, if adopted as the mandate for the current government’s negotiating position, would significantly change the global perception of Canada as a spoiler and a laggard going into these critical talks.

The motion is not binding however.

All eyes will be on Copenhagen from the 7th - 18th of December as over 60 heads of state gather in Copenhagen to push for a deal.

As of today Prime Minister Harper has stated that he will not be attending the negotiations.

Carbon Accounting: Protocols and Registries

As with any new uncharted landscape, the rush to establish territory and rules in the carbon business is occurring at a dizzying pace. Since I started in this business more than 5 years ago, I have learned the rules of registry after registry, from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the granddaddy of registries, if you will, the Kyoto Protocol), to the defunct Canadian Offset Registry, to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, to the Western Climate Initiative. Just like learning new software packages, after a time, you start to see commonalities among them. The best registries and protocols demand the most rigorous accountability. With rigorous accounting practice, carbon credits can be traded across jurisdictions and carbon inventories can meet international regulatory standards.

That is why the Canadian government must ensure that our new Canadian Offset system is stringent in its accounting standards and rigorous in its criteria. Our credits will be more valuable if they meet international standards.

As well, that is why I favour using international standards for inventory accounting (‘carbon footprinting’), such as ISO 14064 or the World Resources Institute GHG Protocol. Taking stock of your carbon footprint or carbon inventory is a resource intensive process. It will be much more rewarding in terms of opening up new markets and meeting international regulations if you follow established, authoritative criteria. Beware the easy offsets and fly-by-night carbon footprint tools. There are a lot of pretenders out there trying to capitalize on the ‘carbon neutral’ trend. The best advice I can give you is to make sure you comparison shop before settling on a carbon inventory process, protocol, or project registry.

Surfing the Waves of North American Carbon Policy

Yesterday, by way of introduction, I told you about the gap I saw in carbon information for Atlantic Canada. Today, I’d like to tell you a little about me and my personal experience in the carbon business.

I have been working in this ‘carbon’ field for more than 5 years now and in that time it’s been a roller coaster ride of change, excitement, disappointment, and potential. In the immediate days following the ratification of the Kyoto protocol, I worked with international partners in South East Asia and in both South and Central America. In those days we had the support of the Canadian government in our efforts to help developing nations take advantage of the incentives in the Kyoto protocol. We were riding a wave of good will to make sustainability work around the world with partnerships between North and South. Partnerships that would have seen advanced economies sharing their technologies to help developing nations jumpstart sustainable development.

Enter Stephen Harper. When the Conservatives took the reins in Ottawa everything changed. Canada shifted gears. Sustainability and climate change fell off the agenda and many of our partnerships crumbled as a result. So I shifted my focus to the ground-breaking policies emerging in North America. California and the Atlantic NorthEastern States were making a splash in climate strategies in a big way, with new and ambitious carbon policies that will change the way we do business on this continent. The California Action Registry and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative were pioneering, radical ideas 4 years ago. Now they are the foundation of the Obama administration’s cap and trade program design.

Today, I’m working with an innovative firm called Scotian Carbon Services. We’re based in Dartmouth Nova Scotia and we’re devoted to helping clients take advantage of the carbon economy with strategies and services that help them manage emission reductions, mitigate risk, and find new revenue streams.

Sixteen days from now, I will head to the climate meetings in Copenhagen to meet with other folks engaged on the frontlines of climate policy and the carbon business. You can be assured that we are all anxiously waiting to see how Canada will play its hand at the climate negotiating table. The plot thickens. Stay tuned.

Welcome to Carbon Commentary for Atlantic Canada

I decided to launch this blog because I believe there is a serious lack of information about carbon policy, economics, and news for and about Atlantic Canada. The new carbon economy is numbered in the trillions of dollars. The new carbon regulatory framework for North America is about to be launched from Washington. Those twin halves of the carbon shift make it the biggest thing to hit society since the invention of money. I intend to fill the information void, demystify the carbon shift, and keep you up-to-date on the carbon news you need to know to make informed decisions about your business, your organization, or your career.

So welcome to Carbon Commentary.

I look forward to sharing an insider’s view of carbon management, carbon credit trading, and carbon policy with you on this blog, as well as the latest news and expert analysis as it comes across my desk.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about me, my credentials, and the roller coaster ride that is the life of a carbon consultant for the past 5 years. In the meantime, I recommend checking out the trailer for the documentary called "Carbon Hunters". It will be aired on CBC TV on Thursday November 26 on the program called the Doc Zone at 8pm local. Looks interesting!