COP19

India at COP19: Whatever Happened To Fair Play? It's Just not cricket

By Mim DiNapoli, photo by David Tong.

It was hardly a surprise to see India walk away from the Climate Action Network booth last night with a Fossil of the Day certificate tucked under one arm. Much like their performance in last Ashes test match against Australia, another high-ranking Fossil of The Day performer, other candidates were no match for India in blocking progress in negotiations.

Yeb Saño, The Rise of a Celebrity Climate Negotiator from the Philippines

By Jeppe Fischer, Photo by 350.org

The Philippines has been devastated by Typhoon Haiyan with at least four million people displaced. Haiyan has also had impact beyond the Philippines though, and in a different way, at the UN climate change summit in Warsaw, Poland. Media coverage of the negotiations has been overshadowed by the typhoon, and The Verb explores the impact.

Time for a climate change: Dreams Or Numbers For Gender Equality?

By Cécile Schneider, photo by UNFCCC.

Tuesday’s UNFCCC ‘gender and climate change’ day was unconventional in many ways. In hosting the feature event, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, did not ask panellists to talk about their countries’ achievements, their experiences of gender inequality or even their proposals.

Civil Society stages mass walkout protest from Warsaw Climate change negotiations

Civil society organisations abandoned the COP19 climate change negotiations in Warsaw on mass. Members from Greenpeace, Oxfam, WWF, Actionaid, Friends of the Earth, the International Trade Union Confederation (statement) and 350.org all started leaving the conference at 2pm. This is an unprecedented action, the first time several major civil society groups have staged a mass walkout.

Friends of the Earth International highlighted that the Warsaw Climate Change negotiations were failing, with Tension high in Warsaw talks as G77+China walk out. The role of Australia and reduced ambition of Japan  have been widely mentioned. Australia and Canada are seen as the major wreckers, but there has been substantial intransigence from much of the developed world to progressing the negotiations forward on finance, ambition, and a loss and damage mechanism. Poland's Coal Summit has shown the fossil fuel corporatism entwined in this COP with widespread dismay at the coal powered negotiations of COP19 and at UNFCCC official Christiania Figueres who gave the keynote speech at the coal summit 

Related: Democracy Now: "Nature Does Not Negotiate": Environmentalists Walk Out of U.N. Climate Summit in Warsaw | "Polluters Talk, We Walk": Civil Society Groups Abandon Warsaw Talks over Inaction on Global Warming | "We Have to Consume Less": Scientists Call For Radical Economic Overhaul to Avert Climate Crisis
Analysis: The Warsaw walkout and the Climate Movement

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COP19: Australia wins unprecedented fourth Fossil of the Day award for finance stance

While 30,000 people rallied for climate action in Melbourne, and an estimated 60,000 nationally at 130 events across Australia, it seems Australia has won an unprecedented fourth fossil of the day award in Warsaw for a statement that obligations for new, predictable and reliable finance from developed countries are “not realistic” and “not acceptable.”

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Climate Negotiations: Where COP19 is at after first week

One week into the UN climate change negotiations in Warsaw, here is an overview of what groups are still pushing too and if there has been any movement. Typhoon Haiyan has been an underlying reminder to all negotiators that there is an urgent need for concrete solutions to curb emissions.

COP19 could be seen as the linkage of climate science with climate policy, but the connection is yet to be made within the actual text (for the final agreement). Parties have a mammoth task of negotiating mutual cuts to emissions and financing clean energy funds.

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Australia wins Fossil awards for repeal of carbon pricing and abandoning neighbors on loss and damage

Just four days in to the United Nations climate negotiations in Warsaw and Australia are winning our 3rd Fossil award for abandoning our neighbours on loss and damage, and our 2nd fossil award for the first country to attempt to wind back an established carbon pricing mechanism. Earlier in the week Australia earnt it's first rebuke by civil society at UN climate change talks for not putting forward any new finance commitments at the Warsaw negotiations.

Related: Climate scientists say Success of climate talks vital for 2°C target | Youth observers expelled from UN climate change talks for Philippines Solidarity | Warsaw climate talks: nearly 3 in 10 countries not sending ministers | Poles back renewables and climate action despite Tusk government’s total support of coal | COP19: Your Guide to the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action | Japan's reduced emissions target a setback to climate change negotiations

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Australia: The Empty Chair at the Climate Change talks in Warsaw

Yesterday, I stood in the queues for COP registration, fumbling around in my bag for my passports. My phone was beeping with notifications from Twitter about the typhoon in the Philippines. At that time, there were reports of over 10,000 dead — a terrifying number — which has since been confirmed. Reaching the desk, I paused to decide on which passport to hand over. British. After all, who wants to hail from a country that won’t even send government ministers to attend the negotiations?

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