Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water & Sanitation & Hygiene Nov-Dec 2017 | Page 21

Climate Change
California Governor Jerry Brown led a rival US delegation in Bonn opposing
Trump
Bonn talks “a success.”
“We’ve done the work we came here to do,” German
Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks told DW.
Though the Paris Agreement was signed two years ago, rules
for this new global energy framework have not yet been set.
That climate treaty rulebook is due to be adopted at next
year’s UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland. The main
focus for this year’s summit was to set pen to paper and
create a starting draft for the rule book.
A long process
There will be many more drafts to come, as working-level
negotiations take place over the coming year.
But as Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists
put it, “at this year’s climate talks, the Fijian presidency
helped us build the vessels needed to carry us towards a
clean energy future. Now, it’s up to ministers and heads of
state to fill these vessels with increased ambition on climate
action.”
Delegates also signed off on the “Talanoa Dialogue,” a
roadmap to accelerate climate action at regular intervals.
Pangaimotu-erosion
This roadmap, which will be in process over the next
year, “should help countries bridge the gap between what
they have committed to do and what is needed to keep
temperature rise to safe levels,” said Wendel Trio, Director
of Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe.
Still, there is concern that Bonn only accomplished the bare
minimum of what was necessary to keep the Paris process
going, but did not accelerate progress. “Right now we’re
moving at a brisk walk, so all countries will need to really pick
up the pace from here,” said Brazil’s environment minister
Sarney Filho as he left the summit. Brazil was selected this
week as the host for the UN climate summit in 2019.
Pre-2020
One of the most contentious issues that bogged talks
down in Bonn was the debate over whether efforts to cut
emissions and come up with financial support before 2020,
when the Paris Agreement terms start, should be included
Xie Zhenhua, China’s head of delegation at COP23 in Bonn, with staff
(Credit: Carbon Brief)
as part of the legal text.
Developing countries had pushed for this inclusion,
but developed countries had been resisting. In the end,
developing countries led by Brazil and China won the day,
and some pre-2020 actions were included in the text.
“Efforts by developed countries in Bonn to sideline the
issue of pre-2020 was a major concern for Brazil,” said
Filho. “We’re pleased that issue is now back on
center stage, but now we will need to see words
turned into action.”
Climate campaigners were also concerned
about the resistance being shown by developed
countries, and the reemergence of the “common
but differentiated responsibilities” debate, which
many thought had been settled.
That issue is over the degree to which developing
countries should have less of a responsibility
to fight climate change, particularly financially,
because they contributed to it less historically.
Industrialized nations resisted this concept.
Behind the scenes
What was perhaps most important at this year’s
summit was what happened behind the scenes — or what
didn’t happen.
No other country joined the US in threatening to walk out
of the agreement. In fact, news that the last straggler, Syria,
agreed to join the Paris accord was one big surprise.
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November - December 2017
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