The first promise of COP21 has been kept: Today at noon, the ADP (Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) in charge of the draft agreement adopted the final draft and sent it off to the Presidency of the conference. The text consists of a 21-page legally binding “agreement” and a 22-page non-binding “decision”. Ministers will discuss the draft as off Monday, but we can say that the first reactions to the draft are cautiously optimistic. WWF commented that all the effective instruments for CO2 emission reduction have survived in the text. However, one key sentence (as well as many others) is still in square brackets offering two options: “To hold the increase in the global average temperature [below 1.5 °C] [or] [well below 2 °C] above pre-industrial levels”. If you want to take a look at the draft yourself, click here.
According to Oras Tynkkynen, a newly elected Committee Member of the European Green Party, so far little progress has been made on the question of who will pay for the necessary climate mitigation and adaption measures. “The developing countries are quite rightly pointing out that rich countries have not fulfilled their promises yet, and have not delivered the financing that is needed”, Oras said. Watch the full interview with Oras here:
This news item is part ofthe EGP’s daily COP21 morning briefing. Register here for email updates.
