Tenth day.
This week, international delegates gave up their seats at the negotiating table to their respective ministers. As of Saturday, what was actually being done was finishing the job that was left undone at the last UNFCCC meeting in Bonn. The COP as such therefore began this week, developing on the draft that was agreed last Saturday in Bourget.
Among the major developments of the day, the alliance that has been formed between the European Union (composed of 28 countries) is noteworthy and 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to fight for a firm, decisive, inclusive and binding agreement before the end of this week. The Union committed to contribute 475 million euros in climate action. On the other hand, the general perspective is that progress is being made on all fronts, without any deadlock or blockade, as corroborated by the French climate ambassador Laurence Tubiana. All this has relaunched hopes of a satisfactory agreement at the end of the week.
However, 10 countries are refraining from collaborating on the new agreement, and it is likely that they will not sign the final agreement. This set of nations includes Venezuela, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Uzbekistan, Nicaragua, Nepal, Panama, East Timor, and the island state of Saint Kitt’s and Nevis.
In parallel, 450 CEOs from 65 countries met yesterday at the Estade de France to discuss the contribution of the private sector to climate action. The Estade de France is therefore the second venue dedicated to innovation and the role of the private sector during this COP21, along with the Grand Palais. Something very significant and that denotes two key changes that will be decisive in obtaining the agreement. In the first place, the general support of the private sector and its demonstration of commitment to collaborate in the fight against climate change, which denote a general change in the paradigm of the industrial perception of this matter. Secondly, the evidence of a technological moment in terms of the development, innovation and scaling of clean energy and alternative technologies that allows us to draw a parallel with the Montreal Protocol (which we talked about last week).
However, there is still no agreement, so our optimism must remain in the realm of caution.
