Teaching Climate Change Law & Policy

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I have always found the open access publication Tiempo to be an excellent source of information on climate issues, as well a good source of student readings. For instructors looking for a good assessment of developments since the 15th COP at Copenhagen, the April edition has a very good article that surveys opinions in developing and developed Party States, as well as the corporate and NGOs sectors.

Among the article’s take-aways:

1. The EU’s frustration with the UN negotiating framework has resulted in efforts to make greater use of informal bodies e.g. the Major Economies Forum and G20;
2. There is substantial friction between the EU and China, with the EU accusing China of vetoing references to specific 2050 emissions targets at COP15 and China labeling this as “plainly a political scheme;”
3. While it has been estimated that at least $25 billion annually would be needed to launch a REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) program, to date only $3.5 billion has been committed to preparatory work over the coming three years;
4. The carbon market responded to the Copenhagen Accord with an immediate 10% drop in the price of EU-ETS permits, with many citing inadequate drivers for stimulating the carbon market or innovative technologies;
5. The BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries are mobilizing to provide assistance (scientific cooperation and technological support) to other developing countries, with Brazil’s environmental minister asserting that BASIC countries would provide support that would top the $10 billion of annually support pledged by developed countries for 2010-2012 (the so-called “fast start” funding);
6. One of the primary tension points at the Bonn intersessional meeting in April was the relationship of the twin negotiating tracks of the Ad Hoc Working Group for Long-Term Cooperative Action under the UNFCCC and the Ad-Hoc Working Group under the Kyoto Protocol.

Related posts:

1. New Study on Post-Copenhagen Strategies
2. Post-Copenhagen: The Road Forward?
3. New Germanwatch Analysis of Adaptation Responses, Post-Copenhagen
4. New Post-Copenhagen Report from Climatico
5. Dispatch from Copenhagen

Filed under: Climate Change Law