Canadian Youth Delegation, the heartbeat of COP16 coverage

Best analysis of the Cancun talks has come from our very own Canadian Youth Delegation. I can't say it any better than this. So I'll just share it straight from the horse's mouth.

More from me later, meanwhile take time to read the most heartfelt analysis and cogent coverage of the negotiations.

http://canadianyouthdelegation.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/sleep-deprived-stocktaking/

Images of COP16

Busy day without much internet access. Today I'll let the pictures tell the story.

At the Moon Palace (Negotiating Venue)

President Felipe Calderon on tour of the CleanTech Exhibits

Art installation by Tck Tck Tck

The Exhibit Area of the Side Event Venue (There are 100's of booths)

No caption necessary

The Emissions Gap

Cities Showing Leadership at a COP ... AGAIN

At Copenhagen the association of world cities showed up their national counterparts by emphasizing the action they were taking to combat climate change in their own cities against the backdrop of all the talking and lack of action by nations. Here in Cancun, they are singing the same song again. (In fact, they did say their theme song was Elvis Presley’s, “A little less conversation, a little more action”, but that would be tacky to mention it.)

On Friday night they announced The Mexico Pact, signed just 2 weeks ago in Mexico City. This is a pact signed by 138 mayors of the major cities of the world, including Tokyo, Vancouver, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and Paris, to name a few. The pact binds them to limits on carbon emissions and commitment to register and validate emissions in a central registry, according to a strict protocol.

With the benchmarks in place, the innovative strategies cities will take to meet them is inspiring. The Copenhagen mayor spoke of making a carbon neutral city. And the mayor of Tokyo has implemented the world’s first municipal cap and trade system. Yes, they can.

The presenters were a representative group of the world’s city leadership, from France to Japan to Australia. They made the point that populations are moving to cities. By the end of this century, 90% of people will live in cities. They feel that their jurisdictional reach and their commitment to reduce emissions will drag the national leaders in their wake. And isn’t that what leadership is all about.

Read all about the initiative here: http://www.wmsc2010.org/

Cancun is not Copenhagen - COP16 The Underdog

It was my first day at the COP venue yesterday and I couldn’t help but continue my comparisons to Copenhagen.

• buses idling in the street to take us to the venue instead of rail public transit
• food onsite is much more expensive
• same police presence, just that these ones ride in open jeeps with semi-automatic weapons on display
• there is sunshine in the morning
• very little self promotion of the event around town
• the site is secluded and exclusive with the ‘side events’ a full 10 minute bus ride away from the negotiating venue
• no front page Globe and Mail coverage, in fact no coverage at all

Those mostly sound like negative differences for Cancun and they are. But the intangibles are different too and they all tilt into Cancun’s favour. The tone is quiet and friendly. Copenhagen was the big show, with the superstar atmosphere and it disappointed. Cancun is the picking ourselves up and persevering underdog. And everybody loves an underdog, right?

So I’m over the whole Copenhagen thing now. Cancun is its own conference and it’s been an incredible collection of events and people in its own right.

For instance, I walked into the wrong room by mistake into the US Pavilion and got caught up in a presentation about using satellite data to make decisions on adaptation strategies. Sounds boring, eh. Not so. This was a huge rock star show, with multi-media presentation graphics, Google Earth on steroids, and the most impressive visuals I have ever seen regarding climate change. The impact of seeing hurricane data, extreme weather impacts, and the ‘before and after’ of some major disasters was both gutwrenching and enlightening at the same time.

As our presenter explained, there are ‘hazards’ and there are ‘disasters’. A 'hazard' is a hurricane in the middle of the ocean that never affects anyone. A 'disaster' occurs when a 'hazard' meets population. With population increases and with the increase in 'hazards' due to climate change, the exponential increase in ‘disasters’ is inevitable. Scary. But the new methods of tracking and understanding the hazards with the amazing GIS and satellite tools out there mean that we have a fighting chance of planning and averting some of the damage, but the disasters will come and they will increase in frequency and intensity. It is inevitable.

Let’s hope that we can wrestle down the *number* of hazards and associated disasters by stopping this climate change beast in its tracks. That’s why Cancun keeps fighting. It’s what underdogs do.

Cancun is not Copenhagen

I landed in Cancun this afternoon for the COP16 meetings. And I couldn't help but spend the rest of the day comparing Cancun to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen we felt like rock stars. Every service person along the way from the airports to the restaurants were cheering us on. When people heard we were going to Copenhagen, they'd congratulated us and encouraged us in the fight against climate change.

The trip to Cancun was unremarkable. No-one really noticed us. On the way to Copenhagen, conference goers took over entire air planes. Boarding gate talk was of climate change and national policy. On the way to Cancun, we were overshadowed by wedding parties, and groups of partying university students.

Tomorrow morning I will head into the conference site to be registered, join in the events and observe the negotiations. My colleagues tell me I will be impressed by the organization and efficiency of the on-site logistics. I am looking forward to making more comparisons between the disparate host cities. And I am hoping against hope that the outcome of this COP will be entirely different from last year's, so that I can truly say, in a more meaningful way that Cancun is not Copenhagen.

COP16 Begins in Cancun

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meetings aka COP16 opened yesterday in Cancun. I see in the news that Canada has picked up where we left off in Copenhagen. We were awarded the Opening Day “Fossil of the Day Award”. We won first, second *and* third place. Perhaps we will go for a clean sweep and the Canadian flag will populate that entire ignominious display board. It is not such an absurd thought. There are few other nations that are willing to swim so incredibly boldly against the current. One year after my trip to Copenhagen, and I still wonder if most Canadians understand how spectacularly obstructionist we are acting and how much the rest of the world actively detests us for our climate change posture.

I leave for Cancun on Thursday and I’m looking forward to participating in some excellent, informative side events and seminars. The United Nations and COP organizers have made a great effort to make the material and the discussions available online. So in the meantime, I am following the goings-on avidly online. With the webcasts you can follow every line. It’s almost like being there.

I’ll file my notes from Cancun starting on Thursday Dec 2. In the meantime, check out the UNFCCC live feed and YouTube channels for on the ground coverage.

UNFCCCC YouTube Channel

Webcasts

In the face of Obama’s cap and trade 'crash and burn', a bit of good news from the private sector

We are correct to be suspicious of the motives of the private sector when they appear to do good. Profit is their prime motivation. No judgement here. That is how they are designed to operate. However, there have been a whole bunch of news stories this week about real leadership in the private sector toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

With the lack of leadership among our federal legislators in North America, it is heartening to see the private sector step up to the plate. After all, they are the big emitters anyway. We ultimately need government to set the framework and give us the infrastructure to reduce ghg’s to the degree that we need for survival. But having large corporations and savvy businesses show environmental leadership is driving the economic indicators the right way.

Could reducing greenhouse gas emissions be linked to higher profits and a more efficient business strategy?

Here is just a sample of stories that came across my desk in the past two days:

Walmart’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Announced
Walmart launches a real, transparent accounting system for reducing their corporate supply chain’s carbon footprint.

Large Corporations Like Microsoft calling for *Mandatory* Carbon Footprint Reporting in UK
Emphasis is mine. When do you ever remember corporations calling for mandatory reporting?

World Resources Institute’s Ecosystem Service Review used by more than 200 Companies
The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review is a structured methodology that helps managers proactively develop strategies to manage business risks and opportunities arising from their company’s dependence and impact on ecosystems. Their list of users is growing ... because it works!

Michelin partners with Yellowstone to decrease carbon footprint
One of hundreds of corporations finding synergies with non-profits to work on win-win ghg reducing projects

Western Climate Initiative Launches Cap & Trade System

Announcement creates new opportunities for carbon finance in Atlantic Canada

If a tree falls in the forest and no-one hears, does it make a sound? That old riddle from grade school used to really bother me. Of course it made a sound. It’s the listener’s loss if they’re not there to hear it. No?

Well, the Western Climate Initiative made a big ‘sound’ this week and from the media reaction, or lack thereof, I’m pretty sure no-one heard. While the world focused on the crash and burn of Obama’s cap and trade bill, with little fanfare and almost no media coverage the eleven subnational governments that make up the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) released the final design of a cap and trade system that is intended to reduce their ghg emissions 15% below 2005 levels by 2020.

Eleven major North American governments including big players like California, New Mexico, Ontario, and Quebec institute a fixed cap and trade system that begins in 2012, and from the sound the media made, I coulda heard a pin drop?

No matter, I am well and truly delighted that the biggest carbon policy play to hit North America since FOREVER has been officially launched and is set to begin counting and trading emissions in 2012. The regulations will cover most sectors and will include most of the region’s ghg emissions

For businesses in Atlantic Canada, the most significant part of the new system is the design of the offset program.

The inclusion of offsets means projects that reduce emissions will qualify for credits that can be bought and sold among the WCI participants to help them meet their compliance obligations. WCI system offsets will direct private investment into emission reduction projects by farmers, foresters, communities, and others who will benefit directly from receiving revenue for their emission reducing activities.

A second key part of the design of the WCI offset system is that it allows the participating governments to issue certificates to projects outside of their own jurisdiction. Once this system is up and running, that means projects in Atlantic Canada have the opportunity to register with WCI governments and sell offsets to participants in that program.

Before this WCI development, Atlantic Canada emission reduction projects were limited to speculating on registering their emission reductions in the hopes of making a few bucks on a voluntary exchange or a direct bilateral contract. But those provisional markets are very weak and the prices for voluntary offsets are low and volatile.

The development and maturity of the Western Climate Initiative means that Atlantic Canada offsets can find a market in a compliance based system. That means more value for our offsets and more certainty in project management and design. The WCI rules are transparent and rigorous, following the ISO 14064-2 principles that underlie most good carbon accounting protocols. The same protocols we use at Scotian Carbon.

A whole new world of opportunity for emission reduction financing was opened today for business in Atlantic Canada, whether or not the announcement made a sound in our mainstream media.

Read more about the Western Climate Initiative on their website: http://www.westernclimateinitiative.org/

Obama, the BP spill, and carbon prices

The man who pushed through the biggest healthcare reform in American history may be on the verge of pushing through the biggest shift in environmental policy ever.

Word from American political pundits is that Obama’s address to the nation on Tuesday night was all about setting the stage for passing carbon cap and trade legislation. Hard to believe that a speech about an oil spill, a corporate criminal and protecting the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico could signal his intention to push through carbon legislation. I know I watched the Presidential oration live on the tube and naively thought it was about holding British Petroleum to account and throwing government resources at protection of coasts and habitat.

But the folks who sift through the presidential tea leaves of words and meaning have pronounced this the beginning of Obama’s cap and trade assault. After the address, I watched pundits on American network television debate the merits of an unusually weak address from this president. The common thinking seemed to be that he is softening the ground to plant his feet in on cap and trade, a price on carbon, and an aggressive stance on renewables. Following the pattern of health care reform strategy, they see this as his latest legacy crusade: a strong renewable energy policy grounded in an economic context that puts a price on carbon. That would be a legacy I can believe in.

For an excellent article on American carbon policy, check out Carbon Finance’s latest analysis.

Canadian Annual Climate Change Report escapes scrutiny

The numbers are abysmal. The plan has been weakened. But if a tree falls in the forest does anyone notice. JJ7VET33QQQC

The Federal government sneaked one past us as they quietly posted their annual climate change plan (A Climate Change Plan for the Purposes of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, May 2010) onto the Environment Canada website last week. You’d be forgiven for missing it, because you’d have to be searching in a remote part of their publications section to find it.

When you consider how important climate change policy is to public safety and to the economy; and when you consider how important carbon accounting is in the global economy and in our international treaty obligations, you have to wonder how the government can get away with burying such a significant annual report.

The report is required by law and comprises part of Canada’s treaty obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. There is no question why the government would want to shuffle this document into the back of the filing cabinet. The report baldly projects that Canada’s emissions will continue to rise through to 2012. The number-crunchers have also scaled back any projected emission reductions from government policy over last year’s report by a factor of ten. (See Matthew Bramley’s excellent analysis of the report on his Pembina Institute blog.)

Beyond just the bad news statistics, the plan demonstrates a gaping lack of strategy, action, or policy for addressing dangerous climate change.

If this same Government were to perform so badly in its financial reporting, in meeting its financial targets, or was this incredibly incompetent at managing financial affairs, the mewling and crying from the media would be heard from St John’s to Whitehorse. When it comes to mismanaging an issue as crucial as climate change, there was barely a whimper. I am not surprised by the silence, but I am puzzled.

Unless Canadians hold their politicians accountable, the government has no incentive to improve its performance on climate change or change its pathetic policies. Action to address climate change is the foundation of global economic growth throughout most of the rest of the world. The very future of our species could hang in the balance, as well.

If the performance of our government on this issue barely warrants a back page comment in the Globe and Mail and if Canadians let them get away with ignoring climate change, this country deserves the ugly wake-up call we will receive from the global economy when they pass us by, or worse, the slap up-side the head from planet earth when the effects of dangerous climate change come home to roost.

Download the document at the Environment Canada Publications link. Be warned, they want your email address before you can access it.

GHG Accounting, Certifications, Standards, and Protocols: Who Cares?

With most things humans build, the foundation matters. As we are fond of saying, the devil is in the details.

It is satisfying to debate grand themes of ideology, history, and philosophy. Hey, I am as guilty of that fascination as anybody. The big news stories of the day are about celebrity, high level conflict, and scandal. However much as we like to focus on top-down battles, or the surface of issues, what often matters most is the tinkering behind the scenes, the way things are constructed. Tweak a few words in a legislation and you make loopholes. Skip a regulation here or there and you construct unsafe buildings. Details, foundations, and regulations matter.

In today’s marketplace, ‘green’ is the prevailing buzzword. Retailers throw around words like sustainable, environmentally-friendly, eco-this and eco-that. But what are these terms based on? Who holds anyone to account for actually meeting a certain standard? What is even the criteria of an environmentally-friendly standard?

Enter the CSA (Canadian Standards Association) and ISO (International Standards Association). They have been developing criteria for safety and industrial performance standards for more than 100 years. It is reassuring to have them jump into the gaping chasm of carbon impact standards and begin a ghg measurement program.

We need standardized protocols and universal benchmarks in this new field of greenhouse gas tracking, so that consumers make informed choices about the claims they see on the packages of the products they buy. By engaging certified professionals and using recognized international standards and protocols, businesses give consumers assurance that their environmental claims are real.

GHG accounting certifications, standards, and protocols are the basis of any real carbon impact claims and the foundation of change. We all should care. Details can make all the difference in the world.

I must confess that this topic is near and dear to my heart. I was fortunate enough to be a part of CSA’s first graduating class of GHG Inventory Quantifiers, a designation that allows me to work with businesses and organizations to properly evaluate and report their carbon inventories and carbon footprint.

You can read the full news release at http://tiny.cc/1pxsm

Free iphone app for UNFCCC Policy Geeks

Climate policy geeks can stay up to the minute on post-Kyoto negotiations with a free iphone application that tracks all UNFCCC meetings and conferences.

Download "Negotiator" to see latest youtube videos, read conference document such as agendas and briefing materials, get logistical information, and linkup via Facebook and Twitter. The application will be updated in advance of every UNFCCC meeting this year.

Climate Change Accountability Act facing down final hurdle

Bill C311. The number is burned into my brain now. For over one year, I’ve watched its unlikely journey as an NDP private members bill to its passage in second reading in the House of Commons in early May. Environmentalists and interested Canadians cheered its passage through the lower House as a triumph in the fight against dangerous climate change. However, the Bill now faces its final and perhaps biggest hurdle in getting through the Senate process as it faces 2nd reading in the upper house today.

The Bill is the only piece of Canadian legislation that addresses dangerous climate change and purports to hold the government accountable through strict reporting mechanisms and aggressive reduction targets.

The highlights of Bill C-311’s outcomes include:
* Cuts greenhouse gas emissions – 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050
* Mandates the government to set regulations that ensure targets are met
* Punishes polluters who break regulations
* Ensures government accountability with publicized 5 year target plans
* Establishes independent reviews to ensure government measures reach targets

The Bill has just two weeks to make it through Senate or die on the order papers. You can follow its progress at http://tiny.cc/5sqmf or communicate with Senators at http://tiny.cc/umz0c.

Post-Kyoto climate talks get under way in Germany today

Negotiators roll up their sleeves and dig into the monumental task of putting together a post-Kyoto deal today in Bonn, Germany. Climate bureaucrats are charged with picking up the pieces of various texts and threads of deals from Bali to Copenhagen. They’ll try to stitch them together into something that can form the basis of a deal among the global leaders at the annual climate conference in Cancun in November.

The terms of the Kyoto protocol run out in 2012. The parties are hard at work to replace that deal with a new agreement that will set the framework for continued international cooperation on fighting dangerous climate change.

The climate meetings in Copenhagen in December failed to reach a definitive outcome and ultimately resulted in the resignation of the United Nations chief of climate change, Yvo de Boer. A recently leaked letter from the bitter de Boer saw him peg the blame for that failure directly on the presence of high profile world leaders and their closed-door negotiations.

The negotiators in Bonn have a tough road ahead of them as they juggle competing interests and serious global divisions. Among the most serious of these conflicts will pit developing nations against developed countries. Developing nations have served notice of their strong dissatisfaction with the Copenhagen Accord. In that Accord developed nations shut out developing countries and then turned their back on previous financial commitments to take appropriate responsibility for damaging climate change. The implications of the attempt to turn billions of dollars in aid into loans have not been lost on the world’s poorer countries.

I will be following the talks closely by watching webcasts directly on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change web site from today (May 31) to June 11. You can join me by watching at http://tiny.cc/1dza7. Here’s hoping self-interest and cooperation can collide.

Scary Oil Spew Photo from NASA

All energy production comes at a cost. Perhaps it is time for us to give our moral compass a shake and realize that the healthiest energy production is that which is closest to home, is least environmentally damaging, and is infinitely renewable. If that means wind turbines in our ocean views, solar panels cluttering up our roofs, or geothermal facilities in our backyard, perhaps we all have to suck it up and take some responsibility for the reality of energy production. The tragedy of fossil fuels is how unnecessary is our dependence on them. For that fact, we all share a little of shame in the BP damage, and a whole lot of the responsiblity for moving on from the dependence on this damaging fuel source.

Words cannot capture how much this single photo from NASA upset me this morning.