24 hours with … climate negotiator Vicente Paolo Yu III

eco-business.com

Brokering for the environment for the G77, the biggest negotiating bloc of low-income countries, comes with both challenges and triumphs, says the Filipino lawyer. He shares what it is like to spend sleepless nights at the climate meetings, ahead of COP28.

Vice Yu COP24
Vicente Paolo Yu III, known by his nickname Vice, at COP24 in Katowice, Poland in 2018. Image: Vice Yu

By Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez

It is 12 midnight on the last Saturday before the conclusion of the world’s biggest climate summit. 

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are two-week gatherings that have been held yearly for almost three decades in a bid to make major resolutions to combat worsening impacts of global warming.

The crowd of delegates from nearly 200 countries, dozens of world leaders and hundreds of the biggest companies and nonprofits has dissipated. At the venue, negotiators, however, are huddling in a room to grapple with the final wording of text that could potentially shift the discourse on climate change for the long term. Most of them have not eaten a proper meal, and are surviving on energy bars and the water served for free at the venue.

This is a typical scene into the last hours at  the COPs, said Vicente Paolo Yu III, coordinator for the biggest negotiating bloc of low-income countries at the conference, the Group of 77 (G77) and China. The Asian superpower is not classified a developed country under international standards and has provided consistent support to the G77 on climate issues.

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Analysis: Can Indonesia ditch coal and improve lives with new green deal?

reuters.com

By Michael Taylor

  • Summary
  • Indonesia secures $20 billion worth of pledges
  • Improving lives just as important as closing coal power plants
  • Training workforce for green energy is key to ‘just transition’

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – After clinching one of the largest-ever climate finance deals to shutter its coal-fired power plants early, Indonesia needs to work out how to make sure communities that will be impacted by the shift to renewable energy do not lose out, analysts said.

A coalition of rich nations pledged $20 billion of public and private finance to help Indonesia retire its coal power plants sooner than planned, the United States, Japan and other partners said this week

The Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), which involves providing grants and concessional loans over a three- to five-year period linked to cuts in emissions from the power sector, is based on a similar deal made with South Africa last year.

Tommy Pratama, executive director of Indonesian policy think-tank Traction Energy Asia, said a “just transition” that benefits local communities is vital for the green deal’s success.

“The key decisions about how the funding is spent must be open and transparent with the full involvement of acknowledged experts, affected local communities and civil society groups,” said Pratama in an interview.

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COP27: one big breakthrough but ultimately an inadequate response to the climate crisis

Published: November 20, 2022 12.11pm GMT The Conversation

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  1. Matt McDonaldAssociate Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland

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Activist in front of a COP27 sign holds a picture of the Earth with a face, and a thermometer in its mouth.
EPA/SEDAT SUNA EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

For 30 years, developing nations have fought to establish an international fund to pay for the “loss and damage” they suffer as a result of climate change. As the COP27 climate summit in Egypt wrapped up over the weekend, they finally succeeded.

While it’s a historic moment, the agreement of loss and damage financing left many details yet to be sorted out. What’s more, many critics have lamented the overall outcome of COP27, saying it falls well short of a sufficient response to the climate crisis. As Alok Sharma, president of COP26 in Glasgow, noted:

Friends, I said in Glasgow that the pulse of 1.5 degrees was weak. Unfortunately it remains on life support.

But annual conferences aren’t the only way to pursue meaningful action on climate change. Mobilisation from activists, market forces and other sources of momentum mean hope isn’t lost.

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