How Bhutan is grappling with climate change

How is Climate Change is affecting Bhutan? Interviewee:  Ugyen Tshewang

Work plan under Durban Platform may prove contentious

Talks are now in full swing at the climate meet at Doha in Qatar. The negotiations, which are happening under three different tracks—ad hoc working groups on Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP), Long-Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) and Durban Platform—have all been launched. And the differences between the negotiating countries, or Parties as they are called in the climate circuit, are out in the open in all the three tracks.

Agenda for Doha

The last conference of the Parties that took place in Durban in 2011 has put climate negotiations at the crossroads again. The decisions taken at Cancun in 2010 supported a bottom-up approach wherein countries agreed to take on voluntary emissions reduction commitments that were not legally binding. This, along with low expectations for the survival of the Kyoto Protocol (KP) post-2012 cast serious doubts on the continued role of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the future of a top-down, multilateral approach in climate negotiations

‘Developed nations want India to leapfrog to a technology which even they have not accepted’

Give us a brief background of the simmering debate between developed and developing countries on phasing out hydrofluorocarbons Interviewee:  Sukumar Devotta

Bonn climate meet: countries ready to work on Durban Platform

Developed countries taking part in the climate negotiations currently underway in Bonn showed readiness to act on what was agreed to at the Durban Conference of Parties (CoP) last year. The common theme prevalent in the opening session of the Ad-hoc working group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) was this—let’s get down to work. The session which began on May 17, saw parties from both the third world and developed countries urging members to utilise this session as a starting point for serious action on climate change.

Pressure mounts on UN body to withdraw support to 'dirty' CDM projects

The CDM Executive Board that works under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is under great pressure to deliver on its promise to review support to waste incineration technologies. The international environmentalists' community is demanding that the board withdraw “dirty technologies” from the list of enterprises certified to receive carbon credits. The UN board supervises Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) and issues carbon credits to certified projects.  

Message from Bonn: Drop Bali agenda

Two days into the ongoing negotiations at Bonn and the all too familiar rifts are visible. The primary disagreement is over how to move forward—whether to begin discussions from what was agreed to in the meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP) in Bali in 2007 or the Durban CoP in 2011.

LDCs ring the alarm bell before Bonn

Energy sector biggest greenhouse gas emitter in India, says national communication to UNFCCC

Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan made public India's second report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on May 9 in New Delhi in the presence of about 100 scientists. The report, referred to as national communication, gives details of the country's greenhouse gas emissions and impacts and vulnerability assessments.

Indian companies' CDM projects pollute environment

The process through which industries including Tata and Reliance are seeking carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) (see: What is CDM?) is nothing but a farce, reveals a report.