OFFICIALS MEET IN WARSAW FOR NEXT ROUND OF CLIMATE TALKS

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
11/15/13

Representatives from a number of countries gathered in Warsaw this week for the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, where they began a new round of deliberations on how to curb greenhouse gas emissions through 2020 in an effort to limit global average temperature to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels as they hope to finalize a climate treaty in talks scheduled to be held in Paris in 2015.  According to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, the two-week Warsaw conference will focus on three issues: “clarification of finance”; work on a “loss and damage mechanism” to support developing countries dealing with the impacts of climate change and clarification of elements to be included in a draft agreement in preparation for the Paris talks. “Warsaw … is turning out to be a [conference] that is going to showcase much of the climate action that is already taking place,” Figueres said at an opening press briefing. “It is clear we need to go faster, higher and stronger if we are to stay within the 2 degree limit,” she said.

At the conference, the deadly Typhoon Haiyan that struck the Philippines—which killed about 4,500 people, based on Nov. 15 figures from the UN, with numbers expected to go higher—was in the forefront. The Philippines representative, Naderev Sano, said he was going on a fast to show solidarity with his people until progress was made in the talks. “What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness; the climate crisis is madness,” he said. “We can stop this madness right here in Warsaw.”