Description

On 5^th June 2020 (World Environment Day), APCEL held its first webinar – The Paris Agreement at a COVID Crossroads – in partnership with the Energy Studies Institute and World Wildlife Fund. Nearly 290 participants joined the panellists for a highly engaging and interactive session.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) in Madrid last year failed to produce the necessary decisions on the co-operation mechanisms in Article 6, and the common timeframes for nationally determined contributions in Article 13. Further, loss and damage issues remain contentious. The speakers offered their insights on how the United Kingdom COP26 presidency would need to respond to these challenges, in the face of the COVID crisis, as well as the impending withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement.

Melissa Low, Research Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, and a member of the steering committee of the Research and Independent Non-Government Organisations observer constituency with 10 years’ experience at the UNFCCC COPs, provided an overview of the history and structure of the Paris Agreement. In addition, she discussed the treaty’s mitigation and transparency mechanisms, and how progress on completing the work left over from COP25 could be affected by the postponement of COP26 to November 2021.

Eric Bea, Research Assistant at APCEL, explained the importance of the market and cooperation mechanisms in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and its links to the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism. He further discussed the implications of the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, and how the UNFCCC’s rules of procedure have allowed the US to exploit a veto loophole in both the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

Sandeep Chamling Rai, Senior Advisor, Global Climate Adaptation Policy, WWF, covered the adaptation and loss & damage provisions of the Paris Agreement, and the work that remains to be done in each section, including the lack of finance provisions in the latter.

We were greatly encouraged to see such a strong turnout for APCEL’s first webinar, and look forward to welcoming more participants on our virtual spaces in the future.