Fossil Fuels and COP22

by admin | Nov 25, 2016 | MYD2016

Photo: Babawale Obayanju

The Conference of the Parties 22 (COP22) held in Marrakesh, Morocco this year has given fossil fuel companies a seat in the climate negotiations. A prime cause of climate change is the use of fossil fuel, which emits the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to the environment. Carbon dioxide results in global warming. The historic first meeting of the parties, taking place now has given fossil fuel corporations a chance to voice out at side events organised in conjunction with COP22. These are the very organisations that have funded movements that promote climate change denial and show interest in extracting as much fossil fuel as possible.

Representatives from fossil fuel corporates such as Chevron, Shell and British Petroleum are given access to discussion at COP22, amid criticism from many. They are allowed to witness the discussions using their observer status at the negotiations, with the backing of many developed nations including the US, EU and Australia. The said countries were against measures to limit corporate involvement in the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.

These companies are also given a chance to organise side events at country pavilions and the civil society space known as “green zone” to “promote” their products. In an International Conference that aims to keep global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius and plans to implement the Paris Agreement, nicknamed the COP of Action, giving access to the polluters of the climate a seat at the discussion table is ironic.

I believe that the fossil fuel lobby dilutes legislation concerning climate change. The lobby has had conflicts with international interests dating back decades. In my view, the fossil fuel lobby has seized COP22 as a business opportunity by using side event booths organised in conjunction with COP22 as platforms to voice out. Corporate Accountability International released the map below, which clearly marks how fossil fuel cooperates gain access to high-level meetings at COP.

Source: Corporate Accountability International

A petition calling for fossil fuel lobbyists to be removed from the UN climate change negotiation signed by 500,000 people who share the same views as I do was handed over to the US delegation. The petition initiated by Corporate Accountability International requests the UNFCCC to create a policy which will exclude the participants with conflict of interest from the negotiation process.

A side event at COP22 – Fossil Fuel Supply and Climate Policy acknowledged the conflict between climate change policy and the said industry. It was noted that despite the Paris Agreement, fossil fuel subsidies continue to grow. The Paris Agreement took decades to come into being and now it is threatened by polluting coporates from inside the negotiation rooms. Coal and oil belong under ground, not in the climate negotiation rooms of COP22.

Written by Dulanga Witharanage
Edited by Choy Moon Moon

Women at COP22

by admin | Nov 25, 2016 | MYD2016

A feminist walks into a bar… and she immediately notices the gender dynamics and participation of women in these ‘masculine’ activities.

I think it is only natural that the subject of your focus will attract your attention, also known as selective attention. For instance, a person who recently bought a yellow car might suddenly observe that there are more yellow cars on the road than before. Likewise, a feminist would immediately notice the gender dynamics in a workplace, meetings and decision-making; I am no different.

As a woman who is used to working at the top management level in organisations, I have experienced my fair share of dismissal, interruptions, assertions of authority and even my own false sense of diminished entitlement to the floor.

So when I attended informal consultations, and even informal-informal consultations (when I managed to ‘get in’), I took note of the number of women in the negotiation circle and their participation in the negotiations as a whole. After all, ‘gender equality and empowerment of women’ are recognised under the Paris Agreement (1/CP.21) among the things parties should ‘respect, promote and consider’ when taking action to address climate change.

I noticed that there was a high or balanced participation in CAN Daily meetings, side events and on the higher level, the consultations I attended. Even if there were gender disparities, they were only in numbers; women were active participants and often voiced their opinions, as was the case in the Young Delegates meeting I attended.

In CAN Daily meetings, there is almost always a woman on the chair; throughout other working groups and side events, I could see women actively participating in presentations, voicing out opinions in discussions and working behind the scenes as organisers. It appeared to me that gender was not only a non-issue, but there was also a greater cohesion between the genders, a safe space and working relationship.

On the higher level, in the SBI informal consultation on Capacity Building, 21 out of 37 negotiators were women, and some of the more vocal, key negotiators such as EU and US were women. I was fascinated by the way the South African negotiator defended her turf on behalf of G77 and China against the more dominant and difficult US, Japan, EU and Australia. She was confident without being loud and graceful even as she dug her heels in.

Now, I do recognise that in these consultations, gender means little since most of the positions are already agreed to beforehand and decided by the figureheads of respective countries or at least, influenced by various stakeholders. But even so, having these negotiators on the decision-making panel for the entire constituencies are inspiring and heartening to witness.

I found this photo so profound because I thought it signified the liberation of women through empowerment to enable them to break boundaries and reach the full height of their potential, like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon

In MYD 2016 itself, 4 out of the 5 of us are girls; while Kelvin may sometimes stare at us blankly at our antics or resign himself to our countless cam-whoring, he adds value to our group with his knowledge and experience, and we add value with ours.

So perhaps the principles that are ingrained in that particular organisation matters – not to dismiss the whole issue of gender as if to start on a ‘blank slate’ and pretend it does not exist, but to establish values of respect among all members regardless of gender. Perhaps this is where some of my previous organisations lacked – establishing values of not only equality but respect to one another simply as human beings.

So ‘why do we need moustaches to be heard anyway’? I attended a climate action on that, in protest of the Trump victory. This underscores the point on women’s participation – it is not that they represent the women per se, as COP22 is focused on the broader climate change, but they include women’s narrative; to demonstrate that you don’t after all, need a moustache to be heard.

“Why do we need moustaches to be heard?” Campaign

Women are considered ‘vulnerable populations’ as they primarily constitute the majority of the world’s poor and are more likely to have their livelihoods threatened when climate change hits the natural resources they highly depend on. They also face social, economic and political barriers that hinder them from acting as effective coping and adaptation agents and puts them at a disproportionate disadvantage. It is thus important to not only recognise women’s contribution to the informal economy but to include them in the decision-making processes and create gender-sensitive policies to assist them in adapting to climate change.

I fully support feminist movements like these because until gender equality and equity are ingrained in our society and feminist climate actions and there is no longer need for ‘Women and Gender Constituency’ – and until ‘bar jokes’ about feminists go extinct.

Written by Nachatira Thuraichamy
Edited by Choy Moon Moon

References:

1. http://www.wcdrr.org/wcdrr-data/uploads/854/Women_and_Climate_Change_Factsheet_UNWomenWatch.pdf
2. http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-11-08/women-and-climate-change.html
3. http://www.gender-gap.net/content/gap-update-gender-and-climate-change

Climate (Off) Track

by admin | Nov 25, 2016 | MYD2016

“It’s good if the US talks less and other countries talk more,” said Jesse Bragg, the courageous and bold American from Corporate Accountability International on today’s panel of Climate Track, a daily meeting session conducted by Climate Tracker to keep track on current climate news.

It was a day after the US election and people were still talking about it. Climate Track specifically dedicated a session to update their audiences on the latest findings on the US and climate change.

Andreas Sieber from Climate Tracker kicked off the session by explaining the infographic on What the US Election Mean for COP22. This comprehensive infographic answers basic questions on domestic mitigation, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Finance, Can Trump pull out?, Will the UNFCCC still have money?, and Diplomacy.

Jesse pointed out that it should be a mandate in the NGO world to urge the global north to step up and help out financially. We have to step forward without waiting as we do not know what Trump will do.

The session was moderated by Chris Wright from Climate Tracker, who pointed out a couple of reasons on how the US is being unsustainable and still largely dependent on fossil fuels. How could there be a just transition when a working group in Trump’s team, an official in Competitive Enterprise Institute, is funded by fossil fuel associations? Or the Energy Secretary being chiefly interlinked with Continental Resources, which tagline goes “America’s Oil Champion,”? Or even so, guess who’s the Interior Secretary? (Hint: Lucas Oil)

It is an inevitable fact the the US has been leasing an amount of land to oil and some companies want to broaden that and expand further.

“Kick Big Polluters Out” Campaign

At times like these, we have to amplify our voices. Movements like “Kick Big Polluters Out Campaign” is one of the many ways to achieve this.

Written by Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham
Edited by Choy Moon Moon

Exposure and Opportunities at COP22

by admin | Nov 25, 2016 | MYD2016

(Bab Ighli, 10th November 2016) It’s the fourth day of COP22 and I’m truly treasuring every single moment of it. Attending YOUNGO and CAN meeting, as well as helping out at the Malaysian Pavilion is a daily routine. Having the opportunity to attend G77 and China’s sessions, sitting through the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) agenda reporting, Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) informal meetings, and the technical briefing on Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions made my day. I regretted not being able to attend the youth session organised by the Secretariat of the UNFCCC on Youth and Future Generations Day. It was definitely a miss. However, MYD2016 managed to meet up with youth from other Asian countries, such as Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines and China.

The APA and CMA1 informal sessions both in general lack of progress as most of the time, parties are demanding clarification and they’re conservative in proposing means to carry the meeting forward. Nevertheless, the APA informal meetings agenda on mitigation, adaptation communication, transparency of framework and support, global stocktake (GST) and implementation facilitation were accomplished although there was numerous reiteration by parties to avoid doubling the work from SBI and SBSTA. In the GST informal meeting, non-paper tools were provided as a guide for discussion. However, it was not well-received among the developed countries. There were also parties raising concerns over the matter of mandate to discuss the subject prior to the opening of CMA1 on the second week of the conference.

Bolivia as the spokesperson for Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs)

Thanks to the opportunity to join the informal meetings, I’ve observed that many countries are represented by not just experienced negotiators, but also young negotiators. Exposure to YOUNGO and meeting up other youth attendees at the conference have also given me the opportunity to be acquainted with many young party delegates. They are trained and equipped with technical knowledge about the climate negotiation. In the long run, this may be an advantage for the countries or blocs that these young negotiators or future negotiators represent when they take over the negotiation responsibility in the future.

The technical briefing of NAMA, together with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) registry provided by the Secretariat of the UNFCCC gave an overview understanding and it could be accessed via the following web address:

1. NAMA Registry
2. NDC Registry

The day ended swiftly and I really treasure the exposure and opportunities presented at COP22. It was also a day to celebrate as Australia finally announced the ratification of both the Paris Agreement (PA), and the Doha Amendment.

Written by Kelvin Diong
Edited by Choy Moon Moon

Of Course, US Can

by admin | Nov 25, 2016 | MYD2016

America.

If you have not heard of the Climate Action Network (CAN), now you have.

Donald Trump winning the US Presidential Elections was a huge buzz, as soon as you step on the bus to the COP22 venue, *EVERYONE* was talking about it.

CAN even dedicated 15 minutes of their highly punctual and tight daily meeting schedule to discuss the outcome and delegates’ perspective on the US Election. It was a breakout session, where delegates were required to get into groups of 10 people for a short sharing session and discussion.

CAN Daily meeting

To wrap up the quick breakout session, Tina Johnson of US CAN, took the podium and expressed her views as an American in the Civil Society Organization. She reminded us that although many are against Trump, we must keep in mind that a lot of people are celebrating as well.An example that is widely referred to in this situation is BREXIT. Many expected otherwise.

She imparted with us a very empowering message – we might be down, but we’re definitely not out.
There are many concerns that surround nations across the world. What are the implications of Trump winning the US Election? Is the US going to pull out of the Paris Agreement? How is this going to affect the developing countries? What about the Green Climate Fund?

These are the many questions left unanswered, and to be found out during the second week of COP22, when the High-Level Ministerial meetings take place.

Written by Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham
Edited by Choy Moon Moon

First Day at COP22

by admin | Nov 25, 2016 | MYD2016

I expected to walk into COP22 as a wide-eyed squirrel because of the overwhelming importance of the issues as well as the delegates and participating NGOs. In fact, it was not as scary as I thought it would be; most people we spoke to were genuinely interested in the work we do as the Malaysian Youth Delegation and were happy to enlighten us on the projects they work on or their countries’ perspectives.

Moon Moon and I collected our badges earlier and headed to the Malaysian Pavilion straight to check it out. I personally thought it was a good effort on Malaysia’s part considering it was our first. During our engagement with Ms Syarina over lunch, it was evident that the team behind the Malaysian Pavilion are passionate and committed people, which I think bodes well for Malaysia’s presence in future COPs.

During our engagement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on both counts, it appears evident that they are eager to work with us to increase the youth’s participation in COP and perhaps even, climate policy. We intend to make use of the Malaysian Pavilion while connecting and meeting with other organisations.

The Opening Plenary was an exciting experience, even if only because of the novelty of sitting amongst various NGOs and listening to live speeches through the translating headphones.

Nachatira and Kelvin at the Opening Plenary

I found the CAN Introductory Workshop to be useful, as we were briefed about what to expect and how best to access materials and resources from CAN. I found most of what was shared to be familiar as our MYD 2015 buddies had prepped us about them beforehand, i.e. how to keep updated with daily news and what are the many NGOs involved, etc. What I found to be interesting, was their presentations on climate financing and its issues, that I will be writing about more in the upcoming article.

It has been fascinating to hear the various perspectives on politics, priorities and in general, the negotiations by the NGOs and national delegates that we have spoken to thus far. It stretches from the cost of renewable energy in South Korea to crises faced by small island nations and their efforts in adapting to climate change, to climate justice from the point of view of a Malawi delegate. Although I attempt to maintain my interests in specific areas such as adaptation and intergenerational equity, I am curious as to how all the other elements such as mitigation, climate financing, technology transfer, intellectual property rights and politics are interwoven.

It has been a privilege just to experience the smorgasbord of information and opportunities to access such resources with other great minds. It is exciting that COP22 has something that each of us is personally interested in, and we often meet other like-minded individuals who are more than happy to share their thoughts and ideas. I am personally awed by the spirit and conviction that most people I met today have in regards to climate change, and this has renewed my hope that collectively, Paris Agreement could indeed be the salvation our planet desperately needs.

Written by Nachatira Thuraichamy
Edited by Choy Moon Moon