Marrakech cop22

=<div><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/18/marrakech-cop22-climate-talks-close-call-higher-ambition">http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/18/marrakech-cop22-climate-talks-close-call-higher-ambition</a></div><div>
</div><div>The climate talks in Marrakech are drawing to a close with a plea from some of the world’s poorest countries to step up ambition on cuts to greenhouse gases — and they are leading by example by announcing a commitment to strive for 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.The two-week talks in Morocco began as the U.S. election delivered Republican candidate Donald Trump a victory few predicted.Trump has pledged to cancel the U.S. commitment to the Paris Agreement signed at the previous UNFCCC talks in Paris in December 2015.A coalition of 47 countries most at risk from the impacts of rising greenhouse gas emissions — called the Climate Vulnerable Forum — pledged to raise their own ambition by sourcing all energy from renewables by midcentury.Gemedo Dalle, Environment Minister of Ethiopia, said: “Without stronger climate action, we might not survive, and this is not an option.”Edgar Gutierrez, Costa Rica’s Environment Minister, said, “We don’t know what countries are still waiting for to move towards net carbon neutrality and 100 percent renewable energy, all parties should start the transition, otherwise we will all suffer.”The Marrakech talks aimed to draw up the rulebook for future negotiations and to set rules covering the climate plans submitted by all countries (known as NDCs, or nationally determined contributions).A key outcome was the acceptance of the <a href="http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/marrakech_nov_2016/application/pdf/marrakech_action_proclamation.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Marrakech Action Proclamation</a>, which outlined how the NDCs still would not deliver on the agreed target to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius.“We call for urgently raising ambition and strengthening cooperation amongst ourselves to close the gap between current emissions trajectories and the pathway needed to meet the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.”During the second week campaigners handed a petition signed by about 550,000 people to the U.S. delegation. The petition called for new measures to severely limit access to the UN process from fossil fuel industry lobbyists and corporations.In his last address to the UN climate body, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged all countries to steer a path away from high emitting energy sources like coal—<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/16/john-kerry-coal-investment-suicide-cop22-us-delegation-avoids-fossil-fuel-influence-climate-talks" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">a path Kerry described as “suicide.”</a>As talks entered final hours, tensioned remained over a UN pledge to deliver $100 billion in funds to help poorer countries cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts.Three climate science deniers, led by Marc Morano, were <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/16/climate-science-deniers-representing-organisation-donald-trump-s-epa-pick-booted-un-cop22-talks" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">ejected from the Marrakech venue</a> after staging an unregistered stunt. Morano stood beside a life size cutout of Trump, while waving shredded copies of the Paris Agreement.Morano was accredited with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Heading Trump’s EPA transition team is <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/myron-ebell" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">CEI’s Myron Ebell</a>, a longtime climate science denier.Despite Trump’s grandstanding over the Agreement, delegate after delegate declared the transition to a low carbon economy “irreversible.”</div><div>
<div><a href="http://www.desmog.uk/2016/11/15/meet-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-and-climate-science-deniers-marrakech-cop22-talks">http://www.desmog.uk/2016/11/15/meet-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-and-climate-science-deniers-marrakech-cop22-talks</a>
<div>It’s no secret fossil fuel companies will have to fundamentally change their business models if countries are serious about tackling climate change.With so much skin in the game, it’s no surprise they find ways to try and influence climate policy at the highest level.The international climate talks in Marrakech this week has provided the perfect opportunity for corporate lobbyists and climate science deniers to push their high carbon agendas.<h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif">Who’s who</h3>Prior to the COP22 negotiations currently underway in Marrakech, Corporate Accountability International released a <a href="https://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/sites/default/files/resources/primerconflictofinterestunfccc_0.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">map</a> showing how fossil fuel representatives can get access at the highest level.Many of the groups they identify do indeed have a presence in the inner ‘blue zone’ of the talks, where negotiators meet to hammer out the details of global climate policy. (Most non-state actors and companies are officially consigned to the ‘green zone’ in a separate section of the venue).<img alt="Climate corporate influence map" src="http://www.desmog.uk/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Corporate%20influence%20map%20no%20header.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 798px; width: 1192px;" />Here’s a rundown of the climate science deniers and fossil fuel representatives to keep an eye out for, taken from the conference’s <a href="http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2016/cop22/eng/misc02p03.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">official participant list</a>:Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI):The <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/competitive-enterprise-institute" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">CEI</a> is a neoconservative think tank that “questions global warming alarmism, makes the case for access to affordable energy, and opposes energy-rationing policies”.Their crew listed as “participants” at COP22 includes some familiar climate science deniers, including:<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/myron-ebell" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Myron Ebell</a>, the man tapped to lead the EPA’s transition for Donald Trump and head of the CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment. He hasn’t been spotted at the conference yet.<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/comment/138968" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Harlan Watson</a>, who was head of the delegation to the UNFCCC when the US refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol, is also here as an ‘adjunct scholar’ of the Centre for Energy and Environment.<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/marc-morano" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Marc Morano</a>, the Communications Director at CFACT, a conservative think-tank in Washington D.C. that has received funding from ExxonMobil and Chevron, is here. So is <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/craig-rucker" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Craig Rucker</a>, CFACT’s Executive Director, and <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/michael-goetz" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Michael Goetz</a>, past Vice President and Counsel for CFACT Europe.<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/rupert-darwall" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Rupert Darwall</a>, an “expert” at the UK’s Centre for Policy Studies, who promotes climate science denial, is also here on a CEI badge.International Emissions Trading Association (IETA):The CEI’s delegation pales in comparison to IETA’s 80-strong list. IETA is a business organisation that aims “to build international policy and market frameworks for reducing greenhouse gases at lowest cost”.IETA’s members include fossil fuel companies <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/1002" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">BP</a>, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/tags/chevron" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Chevron</a>, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/tags/royal-dutch-shell" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Shell</a>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7221" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Rio Tinto</a>, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7909" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Statoil</a> and <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5308" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Total</a>.It has a ‘business hub’ tent hidden away inside the blue zone at the Marrakech conference, and has been running lots of corporate sponsored events during the conference.IETA has provided badges for plenty of fossil fuel representatives including Christine Faure Fedigan, French energy company <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/20816/all" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Engie</a>’s head of corporate strategy;  Arthur Lee, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/tags/chevron" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Chevron</a>’s principal advisor on environment and climate change; and Charlotte Wolff-Bye, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7909" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Statoil</a>’s vice president of sustainability.World Coal Association:The World Coal Association does pretty much what you’d expect; lobby on behalf of the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel companies. It lists climate deniers <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/tags/peabody-energy" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Peabody</a> among its many paying members.There have already been a number of <a href="http://www.desmog.uk/2016/11/11/coal-not-solution-poverty-campaigners-tell-marrakech-climate-negotiations" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">actions</a> at the conference highlighting that coal has <a href="http://www.desmog.uk/2016/11/14/coal-industry-must-face-managed-decline-if-countries-are-serious-about-paris-agreement-climate-targets" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">no place</a> in a climate constrained world.The association’s CEO, Benjamin Sporton, policy director, Milagros Miranda Rojas, and policy advisor Liam McHugh, all have badges at COP22.  Shell and BP:There are other fossil fuel personnel here under other non-state actor badges.Marianne Funk, Shell’s senior advisor, is here with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.Tanya Morrison, Shell’s International Government Relations Manager, is here with the International Chamber of Commerce.Andrea Abrahams, a global director for BP, is here with World Business Council for Sustainable Development.<h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif">Corporate influence</h3>The Paris Agreement, signed last year to much fanfare, opened the door for the increased involvement of corporate lobbyists.Paragraph 134 of the <a href="https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Paris Agreement</a>, “welcomes the efforts of all non-Party stakeholders to address and respond to climate change, including those of civil society, the private sector, financial institutions, cities and other subnational authorities”.Paragraph 135 “invites the non-Party stakeholders referred to in paragraph 134 above to scale up their efforts and support actions to reduce emissions and/or to build resilience and decrease vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change”.While these clauses were partially aimed at increasing the role of NGOs and indigenous communities in the climate negotiation process, it also opened the door for more corporate lobbying.On the second Tuesday at the talks, Corporate Accountability International and representatives from Latin America and Asia delivered a petition to the US government asking it to act to end corporate conflicts of interest in the UNFCCC process.It wants policies similar to those of the Global Tobacco Treaty. Article 5.3 of that treaty bars partnerships, financial relationships, revolving door cases and industry participation in the policymaking process. When asked what could happen if the UNFCCC don’t implement new rules about corporate influence, Maya Golder Kraser from the US-based Centre for Biological Diversity told DeSmogUK:“The science is very clear that to get to 1.5 degrees we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, which is obviously directly in conflict with the interests of the fossil fuel industry. So what's at stake is that we just don't meet our commitments at al=</div><div>
</div><div>trump shocker
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</div><div>=</div><div><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/09/cop22-marrakech-climate-conference-pins-hopes-trump-s-inconsistency-save-global-climate-action">http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/11/09/cop22-marrakech-climate-conference-pins-hopes-trump-s-inconsistency-save-global-climate-action</a></div><div>
</div><div>Just as the international climate talks in Marrakech were getting underway, the ground shifted beneath negotiators’ feet. While delegates are putting a brave face on matters, there is no hiding the anxiety in the halls of COP22 in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory.</div>Given Trump’s <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/4866" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">history of climate denial</a>, participants are quickly manoeuvring to find a straw to grasp onto. And they seem to be coalescing around one simple truth: Trump is inconsistent.Until proved otherwise, negotiations will continue in the hope that the President Elect is more climate friendly than he’s been letting on.A Better DonaldThose that are willing to go on record with a response to Trump’s surprise victory in the US Presidential election – and there are not many – are largely sticking to <a href="http://www.desmog.uk/2016/11/07/us-election-looms-negotiators-urged-avoid-marrakech-climate-talks-being-seen-afterthought" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">the line they arrived with</a>: The Paris Agreement has already come into force, and untangling it may be a regulatory feat beyond even a united Republican government led by Trump.In the wake of news of Trump's election victory, negotiators have added a strand to this narrative.Trump was frequently inconsistent on his policy positions throughout his campaign. So negotiators are hoping that now he’s won the election, his policy approach could prove different to the climate denialism presented to the American public, too.Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists told a packed press conference that “If the US pulls out of this, and is seen as going as a rogue nation on climate change, that will have implications for everything else on President Trump’s agenda when he wants to deal with foreign leaders. And I think he will soon come to understand that”.He’s not the only one to sound a note of carefully caveated optimism.Timmons Roberts, professor of sociology at Brown University, says “I don’t think he’s necessarily anti-environmental, but he’s also promising to really spruce up economic growth and build a lot of infrastructure. So will he build the fossil fuel structure of the status quo or will he build something new? These are open questions.”Gas or Coal?The world better hope so, because what Trump has outlined of <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/05/26/donald-trump-lays-out-disastrous-energy-plan" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">his energy policy</a> so far would likely fry the planet.Trump said he wants to revive the coal industry, push ahead with more fracking, approve the Keystone XL pipeline, and dismantle the Clean Power Plan.So how does the US avoid that fate?Well, betting on cheap and slightly less dirty gas is one option.As Dirk Forrister, CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) industry body, who previously served in Bill Clinton’s White House, pointed out “it’s really gas that’s been killing coal, not the President”.That may be good for some of IETA’s members – BP, Chevron, and Shell among them - but it is unlikely to help the US meet the emission reduction targets it signed up to under the Paris Agreement.End of LeadershipThe US was hailed as an integral player in getting that deal done. But it seems that with Trump’s election, the US’s brief era of climate leadership is now over.So what now for the US officials marooned in Marrakech?Well, maybe the Mexicans could pick up the baton.Jeff Swartz, IETA’s director of international policy, said he would advise officials to “start picking your friends that you want to pass your strategies onto, other countries who can take on that leadership role. Because come this time next year they won’t be able to do that”.“I’m sure Canada would be a natural partner for that, as would Mexico and the European Union and others in the OECD.”Or alternatively, negotiators can simply hope a Trump administration sees the sense in acting on climate change. As campaigner Mariana Panuncio-Feldman from WWF says:“If the US wants to remain a relevant global player in the economic arena, it is going to have to recognise that it needs to face the climate crisis and address it. And we expect the new administration to do that. Other countries are not waiting”.The reasons to act on climate change are well established, and everyone in Marrakech remains committed to the cause.Officials are clinging to the notion that President-Elect Trump will prove as surprising as candidate Trump, and turn out not to be such a climate denier after all.<div>===</div></div></div></div>