Sven Harmeling
Sven Harmeling is a senior advisor on climate and development with Germanwatch, a German development and environment NGO that has closely followed U.N. climate negotiations for almost 15 years. He focuses on adaptation to climate change under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the process towards a new global deal meant to be agreed in Copenhagen in December 2009 and the development of the Adaptation Fund. For more information: www.germanwatch.org/klima/en.htm#Development
Equal does not mean equitable
One of the tasks facing negotiators of a new climate global treaty is setting up governing bodies to manage how funds for adaptation to climate change and other resources are spent, hardly an uncontroversial matter. How should such bodies be fairly structured? The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, produced at the pioneering Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, says that "the financial mechanism shall have an equitable and balanced representation of all Parties within a transparent system of governance". ...
Climate talks need a dose of top-level political will
The latest round of U.N. climate negotiations, which took place at the beginning of June in Bonn, marked the start of the negotiating countdown to Copenhagen. The session focused on the first discussions of the 50-page draft negotiating text for a Copenhagen Agreement, which was published two weeks prior to the session. Bonn II did not bring much substantial debate on the content of this text, but countries raised their reservations, which helped identify gaps in the positions. They were also invited to add text where they felt their views weren't adequately reflected. ...
Europe's half-hearted plan to finance climate action
These are challenging times for those of us concerned with EU policy on climate change. In mid-December, the EU agreed on a climate and energy package after intense and controversial debate. At the same time, it was sharply criticised for its performance at the U.N. climate change conference in Poznan because of its vague positions. ...
