Press Release
November 28, 2012
Contact: Laura Rehrmann at press@c2es.org
C2ES To Present New Study of Multilateral Climate Options at Doha Talks
Analysis Outlines Issues and Alternatives for a 2015 Agreement
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) released a new report today outlining major issues and options before the world’s governments as they attempt to craft a comprehensive new climate change agreement by 2015.
International law expert Daniel Bodansky, the report’s author, will draw on the analysis in a presentation Saturday in Doha at a Special Event organized by the co-chairs of the new negotiating round launched last year in Durban. Bodansky, an Arizona State University law professor, will also present the report December 5 at a C2ES side event in Doha. (See event details below).
The new C2ES report analyzes issues under the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, in which parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) set a 2015 deadline for negotiating a new agreement to start in 2020. The report reviews past efforts under the UNFCCC in assessing options for a new agreement.
“We’ve now tried both a binding top-down approach and a voluntary bottom-up approach, and neither has delivered the strong global effort we need,” said C2ES Executive Vice President Elliot Diringer. “The Durban Platform talks are a chance to draw on the best of both approaches to create a more effective and durable agreement.”
The paper, titled “The Durban Platform: Issues and Options for a 2015 Agreement,” contrasts the more top-down approach taken in the legally binding Kyoto Protocol with the parallel voluntary framework established under the 2010 Cancún Agreements. Formal adoption of a new round of emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol is among the issues to be decided in Doha.
The report identifies three broad options under the Durban Platform: an expanded Kyoto-like approach, legalization of the Cancún architecture, and a multi-track approach in which countries can choose among different tracks.
“In designing a new agreement, parties can draw both on their concrete experiences in the UNFCCC and approaches taken in other multilateral arenas,” said Professor Bodansky. “The trick is arriving at an approach that enables both strong commitments and broad participation.”
Professor Bodansky has authored or co-authored previous C2ES reports, including “Multilateral Climate Efforts Beyond the UNFCCC,” “The Evolution of Multilateral Regimes: Implications for Climate Change,” and “Towards an Integrated Multi-Track Climate Framework.”
C2ES also released a second report, “Market-Based Climate Mitigation Policies in Emerging Economies,” summarizing climate-related policies adopted or under consideration in Brazil, China, India, South Africa and South Korea. The report, by C2ES International Fellows Sara Moarif and Namrata Patodia Rastogi, focuses on market-based policies including trading systems, taxes, and different forms of subsidies.
C2ES Executive Vice President Elliot Diringer is available for interviews about the talks, what to hope for, and what to expect. Email press@c2es.org to arrange interviews.
Special Event Dec. 1 in Doha
Professor Daniel Bodansky is one of two non-party experts invited by the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action to present on the contours of a 2015 agreement. The event, which will include remarks by UNFCCC Executive Christiana Figueres, is set for 1-2 p.m. in the Qatar National Conference Centre (room TBA).
C2ES Side Event – The Durban Platform: Issues and Options for a 2015 Agreement
What: A discussion of the new C2ES analysis of issues and options for a 2015 agreement under the Durban Platform.
When: Wednesday, December 5, from 8:15-9:45 p.m.
Where: Side Event Room 8.
Panelists:
Dan Bodansky, Lincoln Professor of Law, Ethics and Sustainability, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
H.E. Burghan Gafoor, Ambassador and Chief Negotiator for Climate Change, Singapore
Artur Runge-Metzger, Director, International and Climate Strategy, European Commission
H.E. Jo Tyndall, Climate Change Ambassador, New Zealand
Alfred Wills, Chief Negotiator – Climate Change, South Africa
Elliot Diringer, Executive Vice President, C2ES
C2ES Side Event – The Role of Global Corporations in Moving the Climate Needle
What: This panel, presented in coordination with the Dartmouth Tuck Business School, will examine how companies are exhibiting climate leadership today, and what would help push the private sector to move the needle further and faster.
When: Wednesday, November 28, from 8:15-9:45 p.m.
Where: Side Event Room 8.
Panelists:
Giles Dickson, Vice President, Environmental Policies & Global Advocacy, Alstom
David Hone, Senior Climate Change Advisor, Shell
Tim Juliani, Director of Corporate Engagement, C2ES
Professor Anant Sundaram, Tuck School of Business
About C2ES
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan organization promoting strong policy and action to address the twin challenges of energy and climate change. Launched in November 2011, C2ES is the successor to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.