Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Rights – Not as Scary as it Sounds

by Anjali Appadurai The climate regime is huge, transboundary, multidimensional. The UNFCCC, being the only body facilitating multilateral negotiations on climate change, is made up of a maze of different issues and tracks. The fundamental premise of the climate debate is that developed and developing countries are responsible to different extents for the current level of global emissions, but...

Against the grain: who’s fighting the Carbon Markets?

by Joe Perullo The Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting to the Parties under the Kyoto Protocol, also known as the CMP, began today with the issue of the Clean Development Mechansim (CDM).  Martin Hession, the Chair of the CDM Executive Board (CDM EB), opened the discussion with a report of improvements made to the CDM.  These included improved verifications of proposed projects...

The Tragedy of the Least Developed Countries

by Graham Reeder and Nathan Thanki While there are more controversial and contentious issues regarding financing for adaptation (the report on the GCF today in COP plenary, or the report from the Adaptation Fund Board to CMP plenary), there are some interesting discussions going on elsewhere. For example, in yesterday’s continued opening plenary of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation,...

worried about the next COP already…

-Nathan Thanki It was just announced in the AWG-LCA (Ad-hoc working group for long-term cooperative action) that COP18 is going to be in...wait for it...Qatar! What are the chances of the Emir, Hamad Bin Khalifa al Than, allowing for any loud and large civil society presence? What are the chances that a Qatari COP-Presidency keeps the process open to all? What hopes could we have (and, of course,...

Post-2012 Climate Regime: How Much Worse Can it Get?

by Trudi Zundel The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will end in 2012. In anticipation of that ending, Parties have been discussing what form the new UNFCCC commitments will take. The first item on the table: will there be a second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol? Developed and developing countries have fundamentally different hopes for a Durban outcome. Developed countries are...