Lucy: Monday Observations
BRICS high level actions
- There were no National Statements by BRICS countries.
- Side events from all BRICS country pavilions start on Tuesday
- Agendas of the side events can be found here
South Korea Pavilion event: National Strategic Project carbon upcycling R&D project
- Presentation of South Korean technologies for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and measures for facilitating smart water grid project implementation in multiple cities, including overseas in Beni Municipality, Nepal
- Raised ambition for decarbonization using innovative technology and social methods
Council on Energy, Environment, and Water CEEW: Living up to the Deal: Expectations from COP24
4 expectations were presented in their briefing
- Science must guide collective action on the basis of equity
- Paris Agreement Rulebook must support building capacity for transparency and ex ante reporting on climate finance
- Access to finance more just, equitable and differentiated
- Recognize actors, initiatives and institutions that can strengthen collective action
What should be delivered as a result of COP24?
- Katowice Rulebook
What it is currently expected to deliver?
- An insufficient bare skeleton of rules whose development will be dragged on into the next few years
- Polish presidency themes* to achieve carbon neutrality:
- Technology – development of climate-friendly modern solutions, such as electromobility;
- Man – solidary and just transition of industrial regions;
- Nature – achieving climate neutrality by absorbing CO2 by forests and land, or by water management.
- *all of which were criticized as a distraction to transparency, loss and damage, and financing, the heated topics of this COP
What could bridge the gap between sub-optimal and ideal?
- Countries should adopt distributed and diffused leadership for climate action and do a little more than expected instead of expecting one country to take responsibility for driving the efforts.
Establishing transparency and trust is key to adapting to the changed political and climate reality
- The impact of transparency and transnational carbon market is getting 40% closer to emission reduction target for 1.5C compared to using primarily national carbon markets
At the 6th Workshop of the Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV), I followed China’s first participation in such an event. Based on the questions raised by other parties, there were a few issues China seemed to highlight as areas of expertise:
- Afforestation program and greening program to offset carbon emissions – which was also presented on at the first official side event at the Chinese pavilion
- Pilot programs for carbon emissions trading
- Development of and insights for greenhouse gas inventory
- Measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) system development on the national, local, and enterprise level
China gave an impressive data-driven detailed presentation on the above topics and more. The enthusiasm from other parties in the Q&A period eventually led to China speaking overtime and being cut short by the chair/facilitator of the FSV. China definitely set a model for tackling this global challenge with vigor as they shared the breadth and intensity of climate action.