Day 10: 16 November 2022
IETA CEO and President Dirk Forrister spoke at the launch of the Japanese government's Paris Agreement Article 6 Implementation Partnership on Wednesday
There was little news from the diplomatic end of the COP venue on Wednesday morning, as the UNFCCC secretariat worked on updated versions of the draft texts for Article 6 negotiators while ministers from Singapore and Norway worked to iron out some of the most difficult elements with political input.
These new iterations duly appeared at midday for Article 6.2 and in mid-afternoon for Article 6.4.
The 6.2 document did not appear to represent a significant advance in terms of resolving contentious issues: the latest iteration has 153 bracketed passages or words, compared to 170 in last Friday’s edition.
However, the 6.4 text’s diet was rather more successful: Wednesday’s version had 78 brackets compared to 110 in Saturday’s draft.
The 6.4 text proposes sending the Rules, Modalities and Procedures (RMP) of the mechanism back to the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body to “elaborate and further develop recommendations”, which includes the text on removals that we mentioned last week.
The secretariat scheduled Article 6.2 and 6.4 contact meetings in the evening – at 1900-2030 hrs for 6.2 and 2030-2200 hrs for 6.4. Our observers say discussions were highly detailed, and that these meetings were expected to go on deep into the night.
Experts have little to say about these latest texts, particularly the Article 6.2 document since it has not materially advanced from its previous iteration. We’ll report back on the outcomes of this evening’s contact groups in tomorrow’s daily briefing.
And in the spirit of completeness, the COP presidency also published today a draft decision text on Joint Implementation, in which it notes that the most recent activity in this mechanism took place in 2015, and proposes to terminate the mechanism’s Supervisory Committee.
Another draft decision text published this afternoon also proposed pushing back the dates of next year’s meeting in Dubai. The original plan had been for COP28 to take place from Monday, 6 November, to Friday, 17 November.
However, the new text proposes that the summit will take place from Thursday, 30 November, to Tuesday, 12 December.
Brazil’s incoming president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has offered to host the COP30 summit in Brazil. The recently-(re)elected leader floated the idea of bringing the talks to the Amazon region in a speech at the conference today. This adds Brazil’s name to the existing list of countries that are angling to host future COPs: Australia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Czechia.
Elsewhere at the COP, Bloomberg broke a story today that Vietnam is lining up a Just Energy Transition Partnership along the same lines as Indonesia’s $20-billion deal announced on Tuesday at the G20. The report suggests the $11 billion deal will be announced in mid-December.
Kind regards,
Alessandro
IETA COP27 Business Hub news
Thursday is the final day of events at the #COP27BizHub, and coincidentally we’ll be holding some of the most topical sessions (in terms of the Article 6 talks).
We kick off at 0900 hrs with a 90-minute panel discussion hosted by Norton Rose Fulbright, looking at current initiatives in the voluntary carbon markets. Are the efforts of the IC-VCM, the VCMI and the High Level Expert Group targeting the “perfect” at the expense of the “good”? Will they support or hinder the expansion of the VCM?
At 1030 hrs GIZ and the Eastern Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance will lead a discussion on how to build up private sector engagement in emerging carbon markets in the eastern African region.
South Pole visits the Business Hub at 1200 hrs to present case studies in nature-based solutions and blue carbon in Pakistan and Honduras, and how to scale up finance from public and private sources.
IETA will host a discussion on the topic of authorisation of ITMOs under Article 6 at 1330 hrs. As you’ll know, this topic has been a sticking point in the talks here in Sharm El-Sheikh, and a panel of expert speakers from Climate Asset Management, Thailand and the US Department of State will review the different approaches being proposed.
At 1500 hrs IPIECA returns to the stage to review the energy sector’s efforts to cut methane emissions.
The final event of IETA’s COP27 side event agenda is hosted by members Trucknet, who will provide an overview of emissions reduction efforts across the logistics industry at 16.30 hrs.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the sponsors, partners and speakers who’ve made this year’s side event schedule a success.
The IETA Business Hub has been *the* place to meet the business community, and we’ve been particularly gratified by the number of Party delegates that have visited to talk to members and staff.
This success wouldn’t be possible without the engagement and support of the sponsors and partners, our members and the great agenda of events that have ranged across the full extent of business action on climate. Thank you!
