The recent OECD publication focuses on development finance for climate action in 11 countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA). The report aims to enhance the clarity of how EECCA countries and their development co-operation partners are working together to finance actions towards their climate mitigation and adaptation targets. The main report is accompanied by 11 country-specific studies.

Read the study online! 

When the President of the COP, Laurent Fabius gaveled the agreement to a rapturous applause of the delegates to the COP on Saturday, 12 December, the majority of commentators speaking to the media were of the view that this was the moment when humanity solved the problems of climate change. They agreed that the Paris Agreement was a landmark after which all parties to the Agreement will set out in harmony to deliver jointly the strengthened long term goal, enshrined in the new agreement. 

In fact, the Agreement and its proponents will face the reality check of further negotiations that are intended to put flesh on the bones of the future climate regime, and much can still go awry. The “flesh on the bones” will determine new obligations of parties joining the Agreement, which will increase pressure on domestic policies and the administrations responsible for implementing these policies. Many countries will need support and capacity building to address the new challenges. Clima East partner countries are among those that will require at least some help in implementing the outcomes of Paris and their follow-up in the years to come.

Dr. Marzena Chodor, Clima East Key Expert, who participated to COP21, proposes a report on the Paris Agreement and its future implications for the Clima East Partner countries. 

The report is available in English and in Russian 

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

The last ADP meeting before the Paris COP21 meeting too place in Bonn in October and resulted in a more concise version of the negotiationg text. This text, meant to succeed to the Kyoto Protocole after finalisation in Paris, is analysed and presented by Clima East Key Expert, Dr. Marzena Chodor, who attended the ADP session. 

The report of our Key expert, Dr. Marzena Chodor, is available in English and in Russian

More information

• Draft agreement and draft decision on workstreams 1 and 2 of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Act

• Draft decision on workstream 2 of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action

• Synthesis report on the aggregate effect of the intended nationally determined contributions

There is a joke that goes something like this:  A tourist asks a passer-by how to get to (let’s say) the Town Hall, and the passer-by breezily replies: “If I were going to the Town Hall, I wouldn’t start from here”. Very helpful!  But launching and scaling up adaptation action can prompt similar responses…..

…it is always possible to feel that ‘there is not enough money’/'the barriers are too high’/'it’s too complex’/'there are other priorities’ or any one of a number of other concerns that encourage us to kick action on climate change down the path to deal with ‘tomorrow’.  However, climate change is placing mounting pressures on all countries to make progress in adaptation planning. And, while the task is hard, and complex, action is needed.  There is no perfect place to start, and ‘learning-by-doing’ and drawing from eachothers experience is crucial.  These were among the findings of a workshop organised in Moldova in September 2015, bringing together diverse stakeholders from the 7 Clima East Partner Countries, the European Commission, EU Member States, UNDP, Clima East and other EU-funded projects to discuss key policy obstacles and opportunities facing adaptation planning, and solutions that policymakers and stakeholders can consider. 

For a brief overview of the key take home messages of the discussions, see our 2 page synopsis here 2 page summary and take home messages Clima East EbA conference Sept 2015,  or for a more of the event, please read the proceedings here. Key outcomes and full proceedings Clima East EbA conference Sept 2015

The September meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2.10) in Bonn allowed parties to the UNFCCC make a progress on the way towards adopting “a protocol” in less than 3 months from now in Paris. This will be legal instrument or an agreed outcome which, like the Kyoto Protocol, will have legal force over all parties to the Convention, including the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia.

Negotiators arrived in Bonn at the end of August armed with the ADP Co-Chairs scenario note, a draft decision on pre-2020 ambitions discussed under ADP workstream 2 (WS2) and a so-called “tool”, prepared by the Co-Chairs on the basis of the Geneva Negotiating Text (GNT) aiming to support negotiations under ADP workstream 1. The tool was based on a consolidated text which emerged from ADP 2.9 session in Bonn in June, itself an iteration of the GNT put together by parties at that session.

In their scenario note, issued on 24 July, well in advance of the September ADP meeting, Co-Chairs stressed that all elements of the GNT were retained in the “tool’, which re-organised GNT into 3 parts, as suggested by the Co-Chairs: part 1 containing elements which are considered suitable for inclusion in the Paris Agreement; part 2 containing elements which should be included in COP decisions; part 3 where all other elements were placed, for parties to decide what to do with these. 

The report of our Key expert, Dr. Marzena Chodor, is available in English and in Russian

What next?

Ahead of the next ADP session to take place in Bonn next 19 to 23 October, the UNFCCC Secretariat published the following documents:

• ADP.2015.8.InformalNote: Non-paper ;  Note by the Co-Chairs
• DP.2015.9.InformalNote: Draft decision on workstream 2 of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action
• ADP.2015.7.InformalNote: Scenario note on the eleventh part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action ; Note by the Co-Chairs

At the request of  ADP session in Bonn in June 2015, the ADP Co-Chairs worked  towards a more concise negotiating text by retaining key options and capture progress in a working document.

Following the publication of the Co-Chairs text, Dr Marzena Chodor, Clima East Key expert prepared an analysis on both ADP streams.

The report is available in English.

Following the previous ADP session in Geneva in February 2015, a lengthy text of 86 pages emerged, elaborated by the UNFCCC negotiators. This contained all options proposed and supported by all Parties. Given the length of the cumbersome outcome of the Geneva negotiations, it was clear that the key objective of the June ADP session would be for Parties, guided by the ADP Co-Chairs, to work towards a more concise negotiating text but at the same time a text that would retain key options and capture progress in a working document.

Following the Bonn ADP Session occured in June, Dr Marzena Chodor, Clima East Key expert on UNFCC Negotiations and Emissions trading prepared a summary of the discussions and key outcome of the meetings.

The report is available in English and in Russian.

Recent developments in climate negotiations since the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Summit of 2009 have shown an increasing interest in embedding climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in national economic, social and environmental planning, especially in developing countries, as climate change mitigation and adaptation have become increasingly interlinked with domestic planning. Wytze van der Gaast, PhD, from JIN Climate and Sustainability provides his 20 years of insights into the UNFCCC process and outlook for the future.

Towards a Future Climate Policy – Wytze van der Gaast

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union

Marzena Chodor provides an analysis of the “Lima call for climate action” and its implications for the intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), the way how INDCs can deliver the global reduction in emissions required to avoid dangerous climate change.

Report on the briefing on support to domestic preparations of INDCs, organised by UNFCC alongside the ADP session (Geneva, February 2015)

Guidance to preparations of INDCs provided by the COP.20 in Lima (December 2014)

Marzena Chodor provides an overview of the debate on nationally determined contributions (NDCs): what they are, what has been agreed so far and what still has to be discussed and established to ensure that, collectively,  NDCs set out in the 2015 agreement can deliver the global reduction in emissions required to avoid dangerous climate change.

Reflections on domestic preparations for INDCs