COP19/CMP9: I'm Going to be Using This Title Again.

It turns out that six hours reading is not enough to get anywhere near up to speed on this. However with the high level segment beginning today I should point out that apart from attempts to flesh out the Durban Platform on Adaptation (ADP) needed to provide the framework for a 2015 replacement to the Kyoto Protocol the other big issue has been that of finance.

Under the Kyoto Protocol the main mechanisms for climate finance was the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that capped carbon emissions and allowed tokens to exceed those caps (CERS) to be sold on the open market. The intention was that the majority of the revenue generated by these CERS would be used to cut deforestation through the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) program which was enhanced to REDD+ by the Bali road map.

The Bali road map and therefore the REDD+ program expired at COP18/CMP8 in Doha. At that same summit the CDM was gutted by the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol caps that collapsed the value of CERS. The value of CERS was further reduced by the decision to extend their life past one year creating a glut on the market. This campaign was led by Poland, the current hosts of the COP19/CMP9 Summit however I feel it was their European Union (EU) partners pushing them to the front of that debate. Fortunately in preparation for the Doha Summit a new mechanism for climate finance known as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) was agreed. In 2013 the GCF finally became a legal entity although it is not yet at a point where it can receive donations or disburse grants.

All the work needed to set up the GCF and the ADP along with all the work that used to be done by the Ad-Hoc working groups of the Kyoto Protocol is now being done by the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) on top of all the usual work the SBI does. In response to all this extra pressure the amount of funding the SBI receives has remained largely the same and they're coming under so much pressure from the UK to freeze their budget they included one of the UK's favourite catch phrases "Fit for Purpose" in their annual report.

Obviously with climate finance pretty much frozen the old Annex II developing nations are beginning to panic that the old Annex I developed nations are going to renege on the spending commitments creating a very tense atmosphere. Although mainly through fault of my own I'm not in anywhere near in a position to comment on this may I suggest rather then attacking directly on the funding issue the Annex II nations instead try and pin the Annex I nations on restoring caps for carbon emissions because that will not only slow the growth of carbon emissions but is will breath now life into the CDM. It also makes it looks less like you're just beggars on the take. After all following the year they've had no-one is believing the Central African Republic's self-certification.

Also along with suffering from what seems like a full-scale nervous breakdown since the well COP18/CMP8 the US is now starting to respond to the finance issue by heavily politicise it's aid effort in the Philippines. That's a shame because I thought the US' effort merely an opportunity to correct a grievous error.

23:05 on 19/11/13 (UK date).