The current climate talks in Bonn, Germany must pave the way for key outcomes at the COP24 at the end of the year, civil society operatives have said.

This, according to them, includes significant progress on the implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement, the Talanoa Dialogue, and on finance for climate action. They underlined the need for countries to step up in 2018 with commitments to enhance ambition and to limit the huge gap in emissions between current pledges and what the science indicates is necessary to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C.

Mark Lutes, Senior Global Climate Policy Advisor, Climate and Energy, WWF, stressed the importance of these talks to bring the Paris Agreement to life in 2018.

“By the end of COP24 in December, we need decisions in a number of areas, including agreed elements of the nationally determined contributions to ensure consistency and comparability across national commitments. Among other issues, we need to know how the ongoing ambition cycle – the global stocktakes – will work. We need to know how implementation will be transparent and accountable through the transparency framework. We need to know how scaled up finance and technology support will be mobilised,” he stressed.

At the intersessional meeting in Bonn, Li Shuo, Senior Global Policy Advisor, Greenpeace, said countries would need to accelerate progress on a range of technical issues, from the national climate targets to adaptation to compliance. By the end of the session, he expected no less than a “clear legal text with options and strong ownership from parties.”

“Countries need to sort out certain tasks under the transparency framework, namely whether – and how – flexibility should be granted to developing countries that need that. The other dimension (of the politics) is ambition. A lot of the Paris rules are about gradually enhancing ambition. I want to highlight that the ambition part of the politics is also very important and has been rather neglected at the expense of differentiation and flexibility.

Finance is a cornerstone to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, said Lucile Dufour, International Policy and Development Adviser, Climate Action Network-France. “If in 2018 countries really want to make a change and are committed to making the Paris Agreement robust, sustainable and fair finance cannot be left behind,” stated Dafour.

The growing impacts of climate change around the world were clearly seen throughout 2017, but there has been insufficient progress on finance to come to terms with these growing needs.

“The first reason why finance needs to be central in these discussions is that it can help enhance trust and confidence between developed and developing countries. Finance can help create the conditions for success at COP24 and secure smooth progress on the Talanoa dialogue, the Paris rulebook and discussion on pre-2020 ambition.”

Conversely, a lack of progress on finance could become a bone of contention, she added.

Youth climate change delegates from around the world have been gathering in Bonn to share ideas, coordinate their efforts and urge negotiators meeting in Bonn, Germany over the next two weeks to take strong climate action in order to safeguard their future.

At a the first ever ACE (Action for Climate Empowerment) Youth Forum at the week-end, just before the start of the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, youth delegates from 70 countries came up with a wide range of suggestions“Youth are an essential part of the climate change solution, so the youth must be active and heard in the international negotiations,” said United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa, at the forum. “The role of the youth constituency is growing, and this is good for the international negotiating process and for the planet.”

Break-out groups at the forum brainstormed on ways to increase the effectiveness of ACE activities. Suggestions included linking youth ACE activities internationally, supporting ACE national focal points, pushing for more funding for ACE activities and holding ACE festivals to create interest and awareness about the need for climate action.

These and other points will be combined, refined and put before government negotiators at a workshop from where they could find their way into negotiating text and a possible draft decision on ACE destined for consideration when nations meet in Katowice, Poland, in December of this year.

The ACE Youth Forum was an idea of Fiji, which holds the presidency Conference of the Parties (COP), since the 23rd COP, held in Bonn in November 2017. Mr. Inia Seruiratu, High-level Climate Champion and Fiji’s Minister for Agriculture, Rural and Maritime Development and National Disaster Management and Meteorological Services, told delegates: “Our young people the world over are powerful agents for change. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

“Fiji is urging the global community to commit itself to achieving the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement, which is to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above that of the pre-industrial age.

“To achieve this, young people the world over must demand action. To raise their voices and force their politicians to take the tough decisions that are necessary. And also point out the wonderful opportunities that are out there if we make the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and fast-track the development of the emerging technologies,” he added.

Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries recognised the critical importance of education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information and international cooperation to the success in tackling climate change. The youth constituency is central to the work.

“This forum is unprecedented in the way it brought together non-State actors, youths – more than half from the global South – UN Climate Change and the presidency of the Conference of the Parties to help shape matters under negotiation,” said Yugratna Srivastava, a youth co-organiser of the ACE Youth Forum. “The process is moving in the right direction.”

In Paris in 2015, countries committed to limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius and to work towards the safer target of 1.5 degrees Celsius. Countries are now negotiating the Paris Agreement Work Programme, which they plan to adopt in Katowice.

The YOUNGO (youth NGO) constituency took the lead in organising the ACE Youth Forum, which was co-organised by UN Climate Change and United Nations Development Programme and supported financially by the Government of Canada.

Governments are meeting for the next round of UN climate change negotiations from Monday, April 30 to Thursday, May 10, 2018 to further develop the guidelines for implementing the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

This will allow the Agreement to become operational. The guidelines, or operating manual, are needed to unlock practical actions to realise the full potential of the Agreement.

The final decisions are to be taken at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Poland in December, 2018.

Finalising the Paris Agreement guidelines is also necessary to assess whether the world is on track to achieve the Agreement’s goals: to limit the global temperature increase to well below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

“To reach success at COP24, it is essential that nations begin working towards draft negotiating texts at the May meeting. This will provide a solid foundation for work in the second half of 2018 and help them to deliver a strong result,” said Ms. Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change.

At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) held last November under the leadership of Fiji, nations agreed to accelerate and complete their work to put in place the guidelines – officially termed the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP) – at COP24 in Katowice, Poland in December.

The Talanoa Dialogue

Another important objective of the May session is holding the “Talanoa Dialogue”, which will facilitate the engagement of countries and a range of stakeholders in a vital international conversation around ambition now and in the future.

The Fiji-led Talanoa Dialogue is facilitated by the UN Climate Change secretariat and will benefit from the presence of high-level officials from Fiji, including the Prime Minister, who is the President of COP23.

The consultative dialogue will check progress, reaffirm the goals of the Paris Agreement and aim to find solutions to how countries can increase their ambition now and in the next round of their national climate action plans, officially termed ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’.

As per tradition in the Pacific region, the goal of a “talanoa” is to share stories and to find solutions for the common good. Similarly, in the context of the international climate change process, the Talanoa Dialogue will invite participants to share stories to find solutions for the global common good.

“Year 2017 witnessed many extreme weather events and disasters that caused suffering for millions of people around the world. The consequences of climate change impacts are already being felt, particularly by the most vulnerable communities,” said Espinosa.

“The Talanoa Dialogue is a key opportunity for all stakeholders to come together and share stories on how we can significantly step up climate action to prevent even greater human suffering in the future. I encourage widespread participation in the Dialogue,” she stated.

This first phase of the Fiji-led Dialogue will write history when countries and non-Party stakeholders including cities, businesses, investors and regions engage in interactive story-telling around current and future ambition for the first time on 6 May.

The output from these story-telling conversations will feed into the Talanoa Dialogue’s political phase at COP24. The political phase will bring together Ministers and high-level government officials for conversations with a view to generating political momentum.

Ambition before 2020

Throughout 2018, countries will also focus on how they can scale up their climate ambition and implementation in the pre-2020 period. All countries share the view that climate action prior to 2020 is essential. COP24 will hold an event to take stock of the pre-2020 efforts.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama of Fiji, President of COP23, and Ms. Espinosa urged countries that are yet to do so to ratify the amendment containing the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. The Doha amendment sets out emission reduction commitments for the period 2012-2020 for many developed countries. The amendment has been ratified by 111 countries and will enter into force after it is ratified by just over 30 more.

Concerned about the need to accelerate action, Ms. Espinosa said, “I strongly urge developed countries to make progress towards mobilising the $100 billion that they have pledged to provide per year by 2020. Many developing countries desperately need this support in order to make their contribution to climate action.”

Projects that increase bicycle use over fossil fuel-burning vehicles can now earn carbon credits, thanks to a decision taken by the Board that oversees the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The CDM is one of the Flexible Mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol that provides for emissions reduction projects which generate Certified Emission Reduction units (CERs) which may be traded in emissions trading schemes.

It has the potential to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development by promoting environmentally friendly investment from industrialised country governments and businesses.

“Bicycles are a great way to get around, and they’re great for reducing the emissions that cause climate change,” said CDM Executive Board Chair, Arthur Rolle. “It is practicable to consider rewarding and encouraging bicycle use with saleable, certified emission reduction credits.”

The CDM Board at its 99th meeting here in Bonn, Germany approved a new methodology for calculating the volume of emission reductions achieved through projects that establish bicycle lanes, bicycle parking, and bicycle-sharing programmes, encouraging a shift in passenger transport modes from their usual fossil-fuel-burning traffic in favour of clean and green pedal power such as bicycles, three-wheelers or e-bikes.

Transportation of urban passengers accounted for 7 percent of global emissions in 2015. So, efforts to increase bicycle use could result in a significant benefit to the climate, not to mention improve health and well-being.

“Promoting cycling is a practical, healthy way to step up climate action,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa. “I applaud the CDM Board for coming up with this methodology and encourage cities, organisations and others to consider setting up cycling projects under the CDM.”

In 2015 in Paris, countries committed to limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius and to work towards the safer target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Between 2015 and 2050, urban passenger traffic is expected to increase 50 percent, to 5.0 trillion passenger-kilometres, with most of this rise occurring in Asia. Recent studies have shown that increasing cycling’s share of urban travel could negate the climate effects of this increase.

The CDM was established to incentivise projects that reduce emissions and contribute to sustainable development. The ability to earn saleable credits under the mechanism inspired the registration of more than 8,000 projects and programme in 111 developing countries, everything from clean cookstove projects, to wind power projects, to large industrial gases projects.