11/30/2015 Paris Climate Change Conference opens with unprecedented call by governments and businesses to end fossil fuel subsidiesRead NowAn unprecedented coalition of close to 40 governments, hundreds of businesses and influential international organisations has called for accelerated action to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, a move that would help bridge the gap to keep global temperature rise below 2°C.On the opening day of the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21), New Zealand Prime Minister John Key formally presented the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiquéto Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), on behalf of the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform, The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group and other supporters of the Communiqué. The Communiqué calls on the international community to increase efforts to phase out perverse subsidies to fossil fuels by promoting policy transparency, ambitious reform and targeted support for the poorest. Governments spend over $500 billion of public resources a year to keep domestic prices for oil, gas and coal artificially low. Removing fossil fuel subsidies would reduce greenhouse gas emission by 10 per cent by 2050. It would also free up resources to invest in social and physical capital like education, healthcare and infrastructure, while leveling the playing field for renewable energy. John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand, said: “Fossil fuel subsidy reform is the missing piece of the climate change puzzle. It’s estimated that more than a third of global carbon emissions, between 1980 and 2010, were driven by fossil fuel subsidies. Their elimination would represent one seventh of the effort needed to achieve our target of ensuring global temperatures do not rise by more than 2°C. As with any subsidy reform, change will take courage and strong political will, but with oil prices at record lows and the global focus on a low carbon future – the timing for this reform has never been better.” Close to 40 countries have endorsed the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiqué, including Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Samoa, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uganda and Uruguay. Eliminating fossil fuel subsidies can accelerate the economic shift needed to tackle climate change and remove one of the obstacles to delivering the low-carbon future COP21 is aiming for.
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11/30/2015 New $500 million initiative to boost large scale climate action in developing countriesRead NowFour European countries - Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland - have announced a new $500 million initiative that will find new ways to create incentives aimed at large scale cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries to combat climate change. The World Bank Group worked with the countries to develop the initiative. The Transformative Carbon Asset Facility will help developing countries implement their plans to cut emissions by working with them to create new classes of carbon assets associated with reduced greenhouse gas emission reductions, including those achieved through policy actions. The facility will measure and pay for emission cuts in large scale programs in areas like renewable energy, transport, energy efficiency, solid waste management, and low carbon cities. For example, it could make payments for emission reductions to countries that remove fossil fuel subsidies or embark on other reforms like simplifying regulations for renewable energy. “We want to help developing countries find a credible pathway toward low carbon development,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “This initiative is one such way because it will help countries create and pay for the next generation of carbon credits.” This new initiative is planned to start operations in 2016 with an initial expected commitment of more than $250 million from contributing countries. The facility will remain open for additional contributions until a target of $500 million is reached. It is expected that the new facility’s support will be provided alongside $2 billion of investment and policy-related lending by the World Bank Group and other sources. India on Thursday announced its much awaited post-2020 'climate action plan' promising to reduce emission intensity by 33-35% by 2030 over the 2005 levels, boost clean energy in electricity generation to 40% while adding carbon sinks — tree and forest cover to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — amounting to 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2. In keeping with its position that India's development needs cannot be delayed, there is no commitment to a 'peaking year' as to when emissions will be capped and there are no sector specific targets. Instead, India has outlined a plan to reduce emission intensity which is the ratio of greenhouse gases to GDP or emission per unit GDP. India has argued that it cannot be compared to China, despite roughly similar population sizes, as its per capita emissions are much lower. India specifically plans to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 - 35% by 2030 from 2005 level (representing a 75% jump in ambition over 2020). It plans to avoid emissions by 3.59 billion tonne of CO2 equivalent over BAU. The VCS rules currently require all projects to complete validation within specific time-frames of their project start date (eg, non-AFOLU projects must complete validation within two years of their project start date). The intent of this rule is to provide a standardized “sanity check” on project additionality (ie, projects which have been operating for longer than these time periods without having completed validation are assumed to be viable without carbon finance, and thus not additional). However, the need for this scrutiny is obviated where a project applies a standardized method for determining additionality. Therefore, the VCS rules are being updated to remove the validation deadline for projects applying a standardized method for determining additionality; such projects will instead be required to (only) initiate the project pipeline listing process within the relevant timelines currently set out for validation. Validation may be completed any time thereafter. For example, a non-AFOLU project applying a standardized method for determining additionality shall initiate the project pipeline listing process within two years of the project start date, and may complete validation any time thereafter. The program update set out above is effective from 23 September 2015. Any project applying a standardized method for determining additionality which has not already completed validation may follow the revised rules set out in this program update. |