As negotiations enter the home stretch, CAN experts commented on the state of the discussions here in Paris, which should result in a global, comprehensive, and ambitious climate deal in which all countries are expected to participate for the first time.
On the ground in Paris, CAN members made the following comments:
“The French presidency is seeing an unprecedented level of support, and this is important because we’ve seen how the process can derail talks. But this process, however good, has not yet succeeded in dealing with all the crunch issues. The Paris ambition mechanism, the loss and damage language, and scaling up commitments by 2018—these issues all need to get sorted. There are still too many red lines on the table. Compromises need to be made, but there are two kinds of compromises: the ones we want and the ones we don’t. There are ones that will threaten ambition, and ones that will work to deliver the kind of deal we need.”
-Alix Mazounie, RAC France
“You’ve got to get transparency right first. You can’t have effective compliance without information on what countries are actually doing — no matter what’s written on paper. We also need to prohibit double-counting of emission cuts and lock in a solid legal framework for monitoring and reviewing progress. All of this is critical to ensuring that the ambition expressed by countries is not only strengthened, but actually achieved.”
-Alex Hanafi, Environmental Defense Fund
“This deal needs three things. It needs loss and damage, because without that, we’ll leave the more vulnerable behind. Finance, because without it, we will leave the poorest behind. Ambition, because without it, we leave everyone behind. In order for this deal to be revolutionary, it must be evolutionary. That is why the ratchet mechanism is so important. The Paris outcome needs to be able to evolve to meet the needs of a changing world. It is essential that we have a big political moment like this in 2018 to review and scale up our progress. Countries will only act if the eyes of the world are upon them.”
-Mohamed Adow, Christian Aid
