Finance has always played a pivotal role in the global climate change negotiations, as an enabler of action but also as an indicator of the level of trust between developed and developing countries. It will continue to do so in the future – the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted by many developing countries include elements whose implementation is conditional to the provision of financial and other support, and the discussions on finance for adaptation and loss and damage are likely to heat up in future as climate impacts increase. Over the years, the climate finance negotiations have acquired their own layers of complexity, accompanied by their own – often loaded – vocabulary. This Guide aims to help developing country climate negotiators navigate this complexity and understand what has gone by, to negotiate more effectively in future.
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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Agreement on the rules for "cooperative approaches" under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement will now not be possible until at least late 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, countries will not be able to decide the role of cooperative approaches in their first Nationally Determined Contributions, which are meant to be finalised by the end of 2020 and implemented from the start of 2021. This policy brief summarises the progress made on Article 6 at the last UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid in 2019, and the key elements that still need to be agreed, to help negotiators and political leaders find common landing ground and resolve this issue by the end of 2021. Read it in conjunction with our 2019 policy brief of Article 6, which provides a more comprehensive explanation of each element.
An online training workshop for over 30 new climate negotiators from the Caribbean region was organised by ecbi on 17 November 2020. Ambassador Diann Black-Layne, from Antigua and Barbuda, the incoming chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), noted the continued role of ecbi training workshops in reducing the learning curve for new negotiators and helping the negotiating group maintain a strong position during the implementation phase of the Paris Agreement.
Includes 2019 Enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender and its Gender Action Plan, and updated resources for incorporating gender in climate planning and action.
Senior negotiators on Article 6 discussed five "crunch" issues in the negotiations for the Paris Agreement's Article 6 rulebook during an ecbi Webinar on 15 October 2020, organised by ecbi.
REVISED AND UPDATED. Your quick guide to the history of negotiations on capacity building under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the global institutional framework, and how global capacity building efforts can be improved. What can the UNFCCC do to promote long-term, sustainable capacity building where it is most needed? What has been done, and what remains to be done?
“We are coming to that point in time where we should and must settle the issue of common timeframes,” said Marianne Karlsen, Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), in an opening address to the second webinar on common time frames organised by ecbi on 24 July 2020.
Most countries will follow paragraph 24 of Paris Decision 1/CP.21 in the absence of agreement on an Ambition Cycle at the next climate conference. This comes with significant risks - not only to national ambition to address climate change and its impacts, but also to the process of assessing overall global progress, and of replenishing climate funds on the basis of national needs.
Training climate negotiators during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reflections on the ecbi Training and Support Programme 15 years after it was initiated.
