“[The] goal posts keep moving, and trust is lost.”
– Papua New Guinea on behalf of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations at SB58
Once again, climate activists and negotiators from developing, small island and other ecologically vulnerable nations found themselves frustrated by the lack of progress in a recent round of climate negotiations, known as SB58* or the Bonn Climate Conference.
What is SB58?
This round of climate talks, which focused on important climate mitigation, adaptation and finance targets ahead of the larger annual climate negotiations scheduled to take place in Dubai later this year, ended with mixed results. Specifically, critics decried lack of access for marginalized voices in the talks, failures to meet mitigation targets ahead of the Global Stocktake, reiterated concerns about loss and damage funding and demanded clear pathways for a “Just Transition.”
Civil society continues to struggle for access
At global climate negotiations, such as SB58, civil society members — that is, individuals and groups that are distinct from government and business interests, such as environmental and human rights activists — play a vital role in advocating for equitable climate policies.
Traditionally, civil society groups, also referred to as “observers” in international climate negotiations, have struggled to get a seat at the table and are often overlooked by policy makers. The main challenges they face include exclusion from closed door meetings, lack of funding to cover exorbitant travel and lodging costs, difficulty acquiring visas, and limitations in translation services for non-English speakers.
During the opening plenary, a youth delegate pointed out how over the last three decades of SB meetings, delegates from Africa are consistently denied visas, which they said “undermines the decisions from these meetings and hinders equal participation.” This statement was largely missed by the other delegations though as conference protocols dictate that civil society speak at the very end of the five-hour meeting, so most of the country representatives had already left.
Throughout SB58, youth delegates also struggled the most to get access compared to older members of civil society. Some claimed in interventions and side events that the movement was in many ways co-opted or stolen by “young delegates representing fossil fuel interests” who often overshadowed the voices of youth NGOs.
Even when they do get access to these hard to reach spaces, civil society is still confronted with challenges for engagement. For example, these United Nations events prioritize colonial languages, such as English and French, making the linguistic landscape of these conferences inaccessible to many. Lacking robust interpretation services, speakers from Indigenous communities, minority languages and much of the Global South are excluded. As a delegate from the Children and Youth Constituency in the GST Technical Dialogue Closing Plenary noted:
“True inclusion requires overcoming other barriers such as language. The [UNFCCC] process primarily takes place in English. This limits meaningful participation from many delegates and hinders the full presentation of diverse perspectives.”
Throughout the 10 days of SB58, civil society members held panels and protests to share these critical messages surrounding language accessibility, climate justice and the need to include more diverse perspectives; however, many obstacles continue to limit the impact of their voices.
Assessing progress toward Paris Agreement goals
One of the key topics these past couple weeks was the Global Stocktake (GST), which is a mechanism under the Paris Agreement for stakeholders and states to reflect on how they’ve measured up in terms of their 2015 climate commitments, such as the goal of reducing emissions to keep the average global temperature increase under 1.5℃ by 2100. The SB58 GST technical dialogue, therefore served as an important space for delegates to get into the nitty gritty of actions needed to move toward the Paris Agreement targets.
Based on the latest warming projections from the Climate Action Tracker, the world is set to warm to about 2.75℃ by 2100 if current policies are continued. The 2030 targets under the Paris Agreement would bring about 2.4℃ of warming by 2030
Climate finance falls short of an already insufficient target
For several years and continuing into the talks at Bonn, developing country delegates and representatives from groups like the G77 and China emphasized throughout the talks that climate finance promises have fallen short, again and again. Climate finance refers to money flowing usually from developed countries to developing countries — which are already feeling the impacts of climate change — to help them adjust and lessen the effects of future climate change-induced destruction from events such as natural disasters and droughts. In 2009, developing countries pledged $100 billion per year by 2020 through the Green Climate Fund to be sent to developing countries that need help with climate action.
Unfortunately, that goal has not been met and the fund still remains a long way from the commitments that many developing country delegates say is already far too low (Fig. 2). Most of that money has gone toward mitigation, which means preventing more climate change from happening by reducing emissions. Countries in the Global South criticized this mitigation focus and have increasingly called for both financial support for adaptation, which involves protecting people from the effects of existing climate change, and loss and damage.
Debates over a “Just Transition”
Another key issue that unfolded at Bonn was around what is referred to as the “Just Transition,” or the nondiscriminatory distribution of the cost and benefits needed to address climate change. Climate advocates from the Global South raised numerous concerns around how more developed countries have turned what was supposed to be a holistic, equitable, rapid shift across sectors is now increasingly only associated with a renewable energy transition.
In one side event, climate expert and civil society advocate Tasneem Essop noted that “planning for a Just Transition is deeply political, and it's really all about power.” For example, groups noted that instead of much-needed grants, the UNFCCC established a loan-based Just Energy Transition Partnership that exploits the communities most vulnerable to climate change. According to environmental activist Asad Rehman, “ [The Just Transition] requires an interconnected and intersectional ‘movement of movements’ approach that is able to transition both in the Global North and the Global South.”
With “common but differentiated responsibilities” at the core of the Just Transition, those countries with more economic and political ability need to contribute their fair share to solve the crisis and help less developed countries create more sustainable and equitable societies.
Next steps leading into COP28
Heading into Dubai this December, with the world already well over 1℃ of pre-industrial temperatures, the hope of keeping the world under 1.5℃ is alive, but tenuous, and promises on action and finance are delayed. To ensure that countries meet their obligations, conversations around topics such as Just Transition and climate financing cannot be limited to, as environmental and human rights activist Lidy Nacpil put it, “the confines of the climate negotiation spaces.”
Tackling this crisis requires action and pressure from civil society, politicians and international institutions. Trust is lost, but it can be regained. At COP28, developed countries must at least meet their commitments of $100 billion to the GCF promised back in 2009 and deliver on their 2015 Paris mitigation commitments, because the goalposts need to stop moving and targets must be achieved.
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