FY 2013-2014 marked the penultimate year of the current Phase III of the ecbi, a time for taking stock in order to plan for the future. A Sida funded independent evaluation of the activities between 2011 and 2013 found that the ecbi has achieved its overall outcomes. The ecbi was found to fulfil a need not met by other initiatives and to have become an established presence in the climate change negotiation field − set apart by its participatory, impartial, developing country-led approach, which is rooted in negotiation experience.
European Capacity Building Initiative
ecbi Publications
ecbi's Publications and Policy Analysis Unit (PPAU) generates information and advice for developing country negotiators that is relevant to the climate negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Developing countries often lack the economic and institutional capacity for policy analysis. If negotiators are unable to engage proactively by submitting proposals, responding to proposals from other States, and assessing the impact of global climate policy decisions on their individual States, progress in the negotiations can be hampered by the lack of alternatives and uncertainity. The differences in analytic capacity between developing countries and the industrialised world are often profound – developing countries lack support from organisations like the OECD, for instance, which has an immense apparatus producing thorough and focused reports, including direct advice on future policy responses to each of member country.
ecbi publications aim to be relevant to ongoing negotiations under the UNFCCC, timely, and trustworthy. PPAU works with negotiators from developing countries, sometimes through Editorial Committees, to identify UNFCCC issues where further analysis and policy advice is needed. Global experts are then teamed up with negotiators from devleoping countries to produce Policy Briefs and Discussion Notes. This partnership between experts and negotiators helps to ensure that the process of producing a Brief addresses the specific concerns of developing country negotiators; builds the capacity of developing country co-authors in policy analysis; and also builds ownership of the analysis.
For new negotiators, and for use in ecbi Regional and Pre-COP Training Workshops, PPAU produces Background Papers and a series of Pocket Guides. These generally provide a more basic analysis of issues for newcomers to the process, along with the background and history of the issue in the negotiations.
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In a recent Concept Note,1 Benito Müller put forward the idea of a Southern Solidarity Fund (SSF) to receive voluntary contributions from developing countries for South-South climate change cooperation. It is meant to be established by the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC or Convention) with a developing country Board, and to be operated by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), as an operating entity of the FCCC financial mechanism. As such, it is meant to give developing countries ‘the opportunity to provide support to their peers for climate change activities’2 which ‘should be able to avail itself of the best available delivery systems, such as is hoped will be established under the Green Climate Fund, in particular through Enhanced Direct Access, where operational decision-making is devolved to recipient countries.’
Legal Options and Challenges
Publication Date:
May, 2014
The Berlin Mandate, adopted during the early hours of 7 April 1995, marked the end of the first Conference of Parties (COP 1) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Berlin, Germany.1 The Mandate was one of the most important decisions of the COP, paving the way for the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol.2
As Chief Negotiator for Sweden, I participated actively in high-level informal consultations before the Berlin COP. During the COP, I chaired a high-level working group on the Berlin Mandate, which was established at the very beginning of the conference and worked all through, with meetings practically every day. My reflections in this paper seek to provide an insider’s view of the Berlin Mandate process, and draw lessons for the ongoing negotiations for a post-2020 climate regime.
Process and Substance
Publication Date:
May, 2014
Presentation at Joint ecbi Committees and Funder Meeting
Publication Date:
June, 2014
The 2014 ecbi Bonn Seminar took place at the Altes Rathaus in Bonn, Germany, on the afternoon of 9 June. The Seminar was attended by over 45 negotiators and representatives from developing countries and Europe, including the two Chairs of the Ad-Hoc Group on the Durban Platform (ADP), the key negotiating body for the future climate agreement.
The 2014 ecbi Bonn Seminar took place at the Altes Rathaus in Bonn, Germany, on the afternoon of 9 June. The Seminar was attended by over 45 negotiators and representatives from developing countries and Europe, including the two Chairs of the Ad-Hoc Group on the Durban Platform (ADP), the key negotiating body for the future climate agreement.
Discussions were held on: financial support for climate change; whether or not the post-2015 climate agreement should differentiate expected engagement of countries by using ex-ante country lists (Annexes); and how to ensure a just outcome, both with respect to equity (intragenerational justice) and ambition (intergenerational justice).
Bo Kjellén, Co-Chair of the ecbi Advisory Committee, opened the meeting and chaired the sessions. The proceedings began with the reading of a message from the Lord Mayor of Bonn, Jürgen Nimptsch, who praised the ecbi for “opening doors for trust and understanding in the global climate debate by advancing an exchange between … North and South”
Publication Date:
June, 2014
Operationalising the Global Goal for Adaptation
Publication Date:
August, 2014
Preliminary Thoughts
Publication Date:
April, 2014
Afterthoughts
Publication Date:
April, 2014
