Paris climate agreement must include global decarbonisation goal, say NGOs

The goal of decarbonising the global economy must be included in any agreement to come out of the Paris climate convention meeting in December, non-government groups said today ahead of final preparatory negotiations in Bonn.

Climate Diplomacy Programme Leader, for E3G, Liz Gallagher, said the negotiating text “needs to echo the recent political statements to decarbonise the global economy” by the G7 countries, the joint declaration by Brazil and Germany and the International Monetary Fund.

“We know that decarbonisation of the global economy has got some real political traction and if Paris is going to deliver a strong signal to business and investors it really needs to demonstrate the ultimate expression of the goal we’re trying to aim for which is decoupling prosperity from emissions,” said Gallagher.

“Saying that effectively there won’t be fossil fuels in the system in a significant way by say 2050, I think that’s a really important mind set for people to get their heads around and for companies to understand what this means in reality.”

Gallagher said the inclusion of a decarbonisation goal should be included at the preparatory climate convention meeting in Bonn next week, the last negotiating meeting before Paris.

Director of Policy and Strategy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Alden Meyer, said the Paris agreement needed to be a turning point and “guarantees that the world is coming to grips with climate crisis and puts us on an irreversible path to decarbonise the global economy relatively quickly”

“We think it’s essential that there be elements in the (Paris agreement) decision text inviting countries to start working on national decarbonisation pathway plans between now and 2020,” Meyer said.

These plans would provide the context for the future review of national emission reduction efforts over the next 30 to 40 years.

Meyer said current national action plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, submitted ahead of the Paris meeting, would only restrict global average temperature rises to between 2.7 and 3.0 degrees, well above of the 2 degree ceiling to avoid dangerous climate change.

“There is a consistent message that we have not closed the ambition gap and more is going to have to be done,” Meyer said.

The Paris conference also needs to do more on adaption, loss and damage due to climate change, particularly for developing nations.

“We can see the impacts the world is experience now at just 0.8 degrees of warming so even if we were able to get on track to stay below 2 degrees or 1.5 degrees, the impacts are going to continue to grow,” Meyer said.

Gallagher said environment groups were not expecting a major change in Australia’s negotiating position for the Paris climate meeting following the replacement of Tony Abbott with Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister.

“We’re not expecting a volte-face from the new government but what we might see is a little bit more room to manoeuvre on the international stage,” Gallagher said.