SPECIAL ISSUE: IDDRI IN COPENHAGEN

The need for a new development trajectory

Today, the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens in Copenhagen (Denmark), and will run from 7-18 December. The stakes are high for the international community: it must reach an ambitious, fair and effective agreement to ensure a massive, rapid and global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, while adhering fully to the principles of the Rio Declaration (1992), especially that of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Since this round of negotiations was launched at the Bali Conference in December 2007, IDDRI has been actively involved as both observer and actor in these negotiations and is striving to identify the room for manoeuvre available and to foster the emergence of points of convergence.

For the last two years, IDDRI has been focussing more specifically on certain research areas (sectoral approaches, combating deforestation, urban policies, finance and adaptation, etc.) and has stepped up its publications and initiatives to inform the debate and facilitate talks: support for Michael Zammit Cutajar, Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA); the European Dialogue on the Energy and Climate Challenge; the Climate Frontrunners initiative to foster informal exchanges between the main negotiators; the Copenhagen Club, which regularly brings together IDDRI’s industrial and institutional partners in order to share the latest information; and the “press club”, to review the negotiations with the main French media, etc.

In October, IDDRI launched its special web page, Getting Ready for Copenhagen to clarify the issues, gather the relevant publications and follow the progress of the negotiations. IDDRI will be actively present in Copenhagen and will help you to follow and decipher the debates and negotiations as they unfold through its blog: http://blog.iddri.org.

Laurence Tubiana, founder of IDDRI, professor at Sciences Po and director of Global Public Goods at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, will take stock of the negotiations every morning on Radio Classique during the 7 o’clock news. Several IDDRI experts will also take part in the programme “C’est pas du vent” presented by Anne-Cécile Bras and Arnaud Jouve on RFI live from Copenhagen during the second week, from 11.30 to 12.00.

In the days following the close of the conference, IDDRI will provide you with an analysis of the agreement signed on 18 December. Our hope is that it will reflect a strong political commitment and will show that the international community is moving along the path to a low-carbon economy and stepping onto a different development trajectory.

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OUR LATEST CLIMATE PUBLICATIONS

 

Since Bali in December 2007 and in the run-up to COP15 at Copenhagen, IDDRI has been involved intensively in the negotiations, analyzing issues at stake and proposing ideas to unlock crunch issues. Here is an overview of our latest publications on each building block, including a newly published guide for the negotiations, providing keys of understanding to negotiators and observers:

* Copenhagen: A Guide for Negotiations: Where do we stand? Why are we there? What should we aim for?, IDDRI Climate Team
[available soon at www.iddri.org/publications]

 

 

OVERARCHING ISSUES

* Post-2012 Climate Change Agreement: Why MRV is important, Matthieu Wemaere
Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) refers to a set of processes and procedures through which factual information is provided, assessed and checked to determine whether, when and how Parties effectively meet their
respective obligations. As such, MRV can play a key role in building trust among Parties and instill confidence in the post 2012 international climate regime.
[download Idées pour le débat 07/2009]

 

* Post-2012 Climate Change Agreement: Fitting Commitments by Cities, Benoit Lefèvre et Matthieu Wemaere
This article has been written within the framework of “EU and Global Climate Change Policy and the Increasing Role of Cities” CEPS Task Force, chaired by Laurence Tubiana (Iddri, Sciences Po). The objective is to offer a framework to consider “How commitments by cities can fit into a post-2012 climate change agreement?” The paper identifies key elements that need to be taken into account when developing a roadmap that seeks empowerment of local governments in the UN post-2012 framework on climate change.
[download Idées pour le débat 02/2009]

 

* Scenarios for transition towards a low-carbon world in 2050: What's at stake for heavy industries?, EpE - IDDRI, 2009

Launched in 2004, the study "Scenarios for transition towards a low-carbon world in 2050: What’s at stake for heavy industries?" explores how major industrial sectors will be impacted by a carbon constraint stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentration at 450 ppm. By means of an innovative hybrid modelling platform and ongoing dialogue between researchers and industrials, the study produces conclusions concerning both general climate policy as well as the economic response of industrial sectors—specifically of the steel, aluminium, cement, and sheet glass sectors, as well as of the energy sector.
[download the summary] 

 

 

MITIGATION

* Developed Countries 2020 Pledges Fall Short of IPCC Target. What can we do?, Emmanuel Guérin
[available soon at www.iddri.org/publications]

 

* Climate and Energy Package: Would too many offsets hollow out the EU Climate Package?, Sophie Galharret
The Climate and Energy Package is the cornerstone of European climate policy for the post-2012 period. The provisions of the Package should enable the implementation of the 20-20-20 targets by 2020, in other words a 20% reduction in emissions, 20% renewable energy in final consumption and a 20% improvement in energy efficiency, with a view to creating the conditions for meeting the ambitious longerterm target proposed by the EU. But the quantified targets Europe adopted in its Package are not enough in themselves to conclude that European decisions will enable it to achieve its ambitions for 2050.
Indeed, this article takes the necessary closer look at the scope of the different provisions already in place along with those that will be determined by 2012 and, in particular, the implications of European choices in terms of offsets, in other words the share of the European emissions reduction target that will be met through emissions reductions made in developing countries.
[learn more] 

 

* Shaping Climate Policy in Urban Infrastructure: an Insight into the Building Sector in China, Jun Li, Michel Colombier, Carine Barbier
China is playing an increasingly crucial role in the global effort to combat climate change due to its sheer size and strong economic growth, which is primarily fuelled by coal. While the trajectories pursued by China in the coming decades will have tremendous implications for global climate stabilisation, this paper attempts to address the question of the relationship between the capital investment decisions that enhance building energy efficiency (BEE) today and the subsequent creation of financial capacity to make it possible to scale up climate-friendly energy supply technologies tomorrow.
this analysis shows how the shrewd allocation of financial resources can positively influence policies related to tackling climate change by managing the quality of developed urban infrastructure. Its main purpose is to demonstrate the existence of a least-cost trajectory for energy performance improvement strategies in buildings in the context of extremely rapid urbanisation in China. In addition, it seeks to identify appropriate policy and economic instruments allowing cities to approach the optimal pathways of energy efficiency policy development. Based on a scenario analysis of the energy, environmental and economic consequences of different building efficiencyimplementation pathways, depending on the decisions made today, we demonstrate that maintaining the current BEE standards is not a rational decision from either an economic or an environmental perspective; more stringent efficiency requirements are needed to minimise the costs of the trajectory.
[download Analyse 03/2009]

 

 

 FORESTS

* The fight against deforestation (REDD). Economic implications of market-based funding, Romain Pirard
In the context of the 14th Conference of the Parties to be held in Poznan in December 2008, this paper discusses the REDD mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) which is currently under negotiation. As the role of the market is a central element in these discussions, the author explains the terms of the debate in order to enable a better understanding of the issues at stake in the upcoming decision-making process.
[download Idées pour le débat 20/2008]

 

 

ADAPTATION

* Adaptation at Copenhagen, Benjamin Garnaud
[available soon at www.iddri.org/publications] 

 

* Environmental Migration, Myths and Realities, François Gemenne
[available soon at www.iddri.org/publications] 

 

* Equity in Adaptation to Climate Change, François Gemenne
[available soon at www.iddri.org/publications]

 

 

FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY

* Structuring International Financial Support to Support Domestic Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries, Fankhauser, S., Guérin, E., Hourcade, J.-C., Jackson, H., Neuhoff, K., Rajan, R., Ward J.
This paper is part of the project International Support for Domestic Action (ISDA). Case studies from five developing countries assess the barriers and drivers of actions that shift individual sectors onto low-carbon growth paths. Five cross-cutting papers then explore how international financial mechanisms, technology cooperation, intellectual property aspects, and suitable monitoring and reporting arrangements can enhance the scale, scope and speed of their implementation. The project is coordinated by Karsten Neuhoff (University of Cambridge.
[learn more]

 

* International Collaboration: The Virtuous Cycle of Low Carbon Innovation and Diffusion, Emmanuel Guérin, Kathleen Dominique
[available soon at www.iddri.org/publications/]

 

* Le marché carbone : quelle place dans le financement de la transition ?, Sophie Galharret
[available soon at www.iddri.org/publications]

 

* Carbon Capture and Storage: From Demonstration to Deployment, Cyril loisel, Guillaume Calas, Sophie Galharret
To take stock of major obstacles to accelerated international deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a workshop was hosted by IDDRI and the British Embassy in Paris at the beginning of February 2009. This note aims to summarize discussions, providing further background to and highlighting the main issues and conclusions.
[donwload Idées pour le débat 03/2009]

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