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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So which contributor countries met their obligations from Copenhagen 2009, and which are lagging?
At the 2009 Copenhagen climate change negotiations the worldís wealthier nations pledged major funding to help developing countries shift to a lower-carbon economy, and to deal with current and future climate change impacts. They pledged US$30 billion of ënew and additionalí fast-start climate finance, with funding ëbalancedí between mitigation and adaptation. We are now at the end of the fast-start period (2010-2012). So which contributor countries met their obligations and which are lagging?
This brief proposes 'The Oxford Approach' framework for measuring national 'differentiated economic capabilities' ("ability to pay") as integral part of an operationalisation.
This brief proposes 'The Oxford Approach' framework for measuring national 'differentiated economic capabilities' ("ability to pay") as integral part of an operationalisation. Based on a well-known income tax paradigm to define or assess climate change cost/burden sharing (schemes).
Summary report for the ecbi Finance Circle meeting held in March 2013.
Summary report for the ecbi Finance Circle meeting held in March 2013. The discussion focused on the perceived controversial arrangements between the Conference of the Parties and the Green Climate Fund.
This paper draws on lessons from the concluded Bali Road Map negotiations to reflect on possible approaches to commitments in the 2015 agreement and its legal form.
This paper draws on lessons from the concluded Bali Road Map negotiations to reflect on possible approaches to commitments in the 2015 agreement and its legal form, the shift from a ëtop-downí to a ëpledge and reviewí approach to commitments, and the seemingly paradoxical relationship between the nature of commitments and the effectiveness of the regime.
Lessons from the Bali Road Map
A meeting of the Finance Circle took place on December 4, 2012, during the second week of COP 18 at Doha.
A meeting of the Finance Circle took place on December 4, 2012, during the second week of COP 18 at Doha. The meeting was shortened to accommodate participantsí schedule commitments in the negotiations. Discussions focused on how the FC could continue to serve as a useful platform for the negotiators, particularly at this stage when the negotiations on finance have increased in complexity, crucial importance and presence throughout several bodies of the UNFCCC.
A review of 2012 Fast-start Finance to assess whether wealthy nations transparently contributed a fair-share of the US$ 30 billion pledge.
A review of 2012 Fast-start Finance to assess whether wealthy nations transparently contributed a fair-share of the US$ 30 billion pledge, while balancing adaptation and mitigation funding, sourcing funds through UNFCCC channels, and without reverting to debt- inducing loans in the place of grants.
Have Climate Finance Promises Been Fulfilled for the LDCs?
Loss and Damage: From challenge to opportunity
Opening Speech to the 2013 ecbi Bonn Seminar