Doha

If you wanted to design a global crisis that the world’s political systems would be particularly incapable of solving, it would be hard to do better than climate change. Unlike a meltdown of the banking system or an attack from the sky, climate change does not come upon us suddenly and command our sense of urgency. It creeps closer towards us year-by-year as record heat, decimating storms, and historic ice melt.[read more]

One seemingly minor and unreported component of the recent UN climate talks in Doha highlights the drawbacks of old-school scientific assessments and the need to modernize the IPCC process. It is especially relevant given last week's leak of draft IPCC reports and the ensuing discussion about changing the arduous and close IPCC...[read more]

In typical international climate summit fashion, COP18 ended in a last–minute marathon session complete with frustration, accusation, acrimony and a halting step forward in what is called the “Doha Climate Gateway” deal.One of the main features of the deal is breathing the last gasps of life into the Kyoto Protocol, the first commitment...[read more]

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COP-18, which ended this past Saturday, would surely have been considered a failure if it had not extended Kyoto commitments. Advancing the Durban process, however, was potentially much more important. The Durban Platform, adopted at COP-17 in late 2011, calls for a new multilateral agreement to be completed by 2015 and to take effect in 2020. How did our national and international representatives do in advancing this goal?[read more]

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Finally late on Saturday, COP18 came to an end. Two weeks of discussion and negotiation had barely moved the needle, so the challenge to bring the conference to a useful conclusion and at least move the agenda forward somewhat fell on the Qatari President of the COP, H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah – which is what he did, despite the objections of some parties. The outcome could be described at best as administrative. But a final agreement on "loss and damage" may well shape the pathway ahead.[read more]

This week in Doha, Qatar, world leaders are struggling with how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough, and in amounts great enough, to protect people from the droughts, food shortages, rising sea levels, and severe weather events that climate change is likely to bring.Leaders are debating a range of solutions including carbon...[read more]

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For the first time, developing countries have won recognition of the danger they face from climate change, securing a promise from developing countries that they will receive funding to repair the "loss and damage" incurred. US negotiators fought hard against this proposal and made sure no term implying legal liability was used, to avoid the possibility of litigation; the money will instead be described as aid. It is already being called "damage aid."[read more]

On the last day, talks at Doha aimed at securing a global agreement to tackle climate change are providing scant hope, although individual announcements from nations on the sidelines provide some progress. The central issue, as always, is fairness over who pays. The U.S. has a target of reducing emissions by 17% by 2020 compared to 2005 emissions. Its negotiators said that this is unlikely to change.[read more]

by Rebecca Lefton and Andrew Light: This year’s UN climate negotiations have once again deadlocked. Negotiators and observers in the hall are concerned that this meeting could end with no outcome, much like the long-stalled Doha trade negotiations. We’re tracking the major sticking points in the three tracks of the meeting and make recommendations on how to move forward. Those interested can tune in here, and look for which sessions are going on live in plenary room one or two.[read more]