The 23rd meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will convene from 6 to 17 November in Bonn, Germany, under the presidency of the government of Fiji, the first time that a small island nation has served in this role.
Expect the most contentious issue to be how to mobilize financing to assist poor countries to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change. Add to that another hot-button issue re-emerging prominently in the wake of high profile hurricanes and typhoons, how to compensate countries for “loss and damage” already caused by climate change – an issue that features prominently in the emerging wave of climate legal cases across the globe. This and much more will play out against the backdrop of the Trump Administration’s plan to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.
Read more about what is at stake for COP23 in our briefing paper.
Updates (in German): www.klima-der-gerechtigkeit.de Web Dossier: https://www.boell.de/en/klima
The Heinrich Böll Foundation will be present in Bonn with a small delegation and a number of events and new publications. Our core issues and messages are:
1. No to Geoengineering, yes to radical emission reductions and ecosystem protection! We provide background information on the risks and dangers of geoengineering, including on past, present and planned outdoor experiments (see https://map.geoengineeringmonitor.org), and the need for governance. We also present viable ways forward to radically reduce emissions in line with the commitments signed in Paris. Such a radical transformation requires a rapid phase out and early retirement of fossil fuel infrastructure.
2. Climate Finance: We track multilateral and bilateral dedicated climate funds (www.climatefundsupdate.org) as well as the German contribution to international climate finance (www.germanclimatefinance.de). We provide important background information on climate finance (see our Climate Finance Fundamentals), including on human rights considerations and the gender dimension of climate finance, investigate new and innovative sources of funding (including for loss and damage) and work to see the Green Climate Fund and other instruments deliver on human rights and gender democracy.
3. Holding polluters accountable and using the law to seek climate justice! We support the emerging wave of climate litigation and human rights based legal actions around the world and help to convene core actors in this field. Interesting cases include the Peruvian farmer and mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya filing a lawsuit against the German utility RWE at the Regional Court in Essen (hearing scheduled for November 13th) and the Norwegian youths suing their government over Arctic oil drilling (hearing scheduled for November 14th).
4. Land Use and Forests play an important role in the new climate regime Post-Paris – yet many questions of operationalisation and implementation remain open. Wrong accounting rules and a new market mechanism could undermine ecosystem integrity, livelihoods and human rights. Together with the Climate Land Ambition Rights Alliance (CLARA) we follow this issue in the negotiations. The CLARA Group will distribute a daily analysis on the issues it follows at COP 23. One of the issues we highlight for COP23 is the climate responsibility of the global meat industry: The Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and GRAIN are launching their never before seen data on the meat and dairy industry’s top emitters on November 6th titled, Big Meat and Dairy’s Supersized Climate Footprint.
Our experts present in Bonn:
Barbara Unmüßig, president, Heinrich Böll Foundation, unmuessig@boell.de
Lili Fuhr, department head, Ecology and Sustainable Development, Heinrich Böll Foundation, fuhr@boell.de,
General overview, geoengineering, climate litigation, land and forest sector
Liane Schalatek, associate director, Washington office, Heinrich Böll Foundation North America, liane.schalatek@us.boell.org
Climate finance, Green Climate Fund, gender & climate change
Linda Schneider, senior programme officer, international climate policy, Heinrich Böll Foundation, linda.schneider@boell.de
Geoengineering
Colleagues from our offices in Belgrade, Istanbul, Islamabad, Kiev, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro are also in Bonn and we are happy to provide you with contact details.
Press contact Berlin headquarters: Michael Alvarez, Press Spokesperson Heinrich Böll Foundation, alvarez@boell.de, +49-(0)30 285 34- 202
Core issues, Events and Publications of the Heinrich Böll Foundation at COP23 in Bonn:
People’s Climate Summit (PCS): November 3-7. We are part of the steering committee for the PCS 2017 and co-hosting the opening panel “Global Climate Justice - Fighting extractivism and holding polluters accountable” on 3 November, 6:00 pm. Venue: CAMPO Campusmensa Poppelsdorf, Endenicher Allee 19, Bonn.
Geoengineering
Events
At the People’s Climate Summit:
Geoengineering, technofixes and radical emission reductions - 6 Nov, 2:30-4:30 pm; Gustav-Stresemann-Institut, Langer Grabenweg 68, 53175 Bonn
The Global Forest Coalition - The risks of Bioenergy and Biosequestration in the context of CDR - Tues 9:30 am-12:00 noon; Wissenschaftszentrum Bonn, Ahrstr. 45, 53175 Bonn
At Talanoa Space: "The case against geoengineering: How to build a fair future in a 1.5 degree world". organised by hbs, BUND and Misereor. 15 Nov, 1:00 pm; Bonn Zone
German Science Hour – Bonn Zone: BMBF - Failing the Carbon Budget - what's next? (participation of Lili Fuhr). 16 Nov, 12:00 noon -1:00 pm; German Pavillon, Bonn Zone
DIE Interconnections Zone: Geoengineering the climate? Sustainable Development and climate justice in a 1.5°C world. 17 Nov, 11:30 am-1:00 pm; Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Tulpenfeld 6, 53113 Bonn.
Publications
Interactive worldmap of geoengineering experiments and projects: https://map.geoengineeringmonitor.org/
The Geoengineering Fallacy by Barbara Unmüßig.
Riding the GeoStorm: A briefing from civil society on Geoengineering Governance. ETC group/HBF, October 2017.
Climate Change, Smoke and Mirrors: A civil society briefing on Geoengineering. ETC group/HBF, May 2017.
Böll Geoengineering Dossier: https://www.boell.de/en/geoengineering
Civil society news on geoengineering: http://www.geoengineeringmonitor.org/
A change of course: How to build a fair future in a 1.5° world. Update 2017: www.boell.de/kurswechsel
Climate Finance
Events
People's Climate Summit Workshop: "Why Climate Finance Action Needs Gender Justice", 7 Nov, 5:00 - 7:00 pm; Gustav-Stresemann Institut (GSI), Langer Grabenweg 68, 53175 Bonn
Talaonoa Space: "Tackling climate finance - perspectives from GER, DK, NOR, FIN" (Presentation of an analysis paper on German climate finance by hbs, Germanwatch, Bread for the World and Oxfam Germany), 13 Nov, 1:00-2:00 pm, Bonn Zone
DIE Interconnections Zone: "Realising Sustainable Development as the Leitmotif of the Green Climate Fund (GCF)", 16 Nov, 3:00 - 5:00 pm; Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Tulpenfeld 6, 53113 Bonn
Publications
Climate Finance Fundamentals 2017 Update (in co-op. with ODI, London): www.us.boell.org/categories/climate-policy-finance
Promoting Rights-based Climate Finance for People and Plant, working draft paper for discussion, by Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and hbs North America; to be published by Nov. 3; please refer to: https://us.boell.org/categories/climate-policy-finance
Analysis of the Green Climate Fund (GCF): Signal Effect for Global Climate Finance. By Liane Schalatek, hbs North America; available at: https://us.boell.org/2017/10/12/signal-effect-global-climate-finance
Websites:
www.germanclimatefinance.de / www.deutscheklimafinanzierung.de
https://us.boell.org/green-climate-fund-dossier-0
https://us.boell.org/categories/climate-policy-finance
Land use and forests
Events
People’s Climate Summit workshop: Jeopardizing Environmental Regulation in Brazil: Legislation Change and the Impacts on the NDCs, 7 Nov, 9:30 am – 12 noon; Gustav-Stresemann-Institut, Langer Grabenweg 68, 53175 Bonn
Big Meat and Dairy’s Supersized Climate Footprint (launch date: November 6th): Shefali Sharma (IATP) and Devlin Kuyek (GRAIN) will be available for interviews. IATP and GRAIN will also present their findings at the People’s Climate Summit on November 6-7. IATP will present these findings at an official side event on Sunday, November 12th at 11:30—13:00, meeting room 4.
Publications
The Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and GRAIN are launching their never before seen data on the meat and dairy industry’s top emitters on November 6th titled: Big Meat and Dairy’s Supersized Climate Footprint.
Position Paper: Climate Action in the Land Sector: Treading Carefully - CLARA group briefing for climate negotiators. The Climate, Land, Ambition and Rights Alliance (CLARA) – of which HBF is a member -- will distribute a daily analysis on the issues it follows at COP 23. If you'd like to be included on the mailing list, please contact Don Lehr at dblehr@cs.com.
Agrifood Atlas. Facts and figures about the corporations that control what we eat.
Climate litigation
Events
Workshop on Climate Litigation in the margins of COP23. This workshop aims at bringing together interested scholars, lawyers as well as international experts and activists involved in concrete cases to present different approaches and best practices of climate litigation. 15 Nov, 10 am - 2 pm; Münster Carré, Gangolfstraße 14, Bonn. Please register: freytag@germanwatch.org
COP23 Side Event - Rights and Responsibility: Climate Litigation in a Post-Paris world: A rising tide of new and innovative legal initiatives and court cases around the world are helping to hold big emitters and polluters accountable for climate change impacts, including loss and damage. This session will explore the potential of climate litigation in a Post-Paris world. Organized by hbs and Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit/Germanwatch, and CIEL 16 Nov, 1:15-2:45 pm, Bonn Zone, Meeting Room 4.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation is working together with the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) to expose the climate change related legal liability of the fossil fuel industry. The documentary »Die geheimen Machenschaften der Ölindustrie« (German language, 45 minutes), which is based on CIEL's research, will premier at Deutsches Museum Bonn on Sunday, 5 November, at 17:00. http://www.deutsches-museum.de/bonn/information/aktuell/veranstaltungen-2017/wdr-dokumentation/
A COP 23 event on Human rights & climate change. The role of communities, activists, NGOs and National Human Rights Institutions in the climate crisis. Event with: Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germanwatch, Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte (DIMR), Global Alliance of NHRIs (GANHRI), European Network of National Human Rights Institutions. 16 Nov, 5:00-9:00 pm; Gustav Stresemann Institut (GSI), Langer Grabenweg 68, 53175 Bonn, Register here.
Press conference: Rights & Responsibility: Cases for Climate Litigation, organised by hbs, Germanwatch, Greenpeace and others, 17 Nov, 11:30 am -12:00 noon, Press Conference Room 2, Bula Zone
Publications:
Together with CIEL we will launch their major new synthesis report "Smoke and Fumes: The Legal and Evidentiary Basis for Holding Big Oil Accountable for the Climate Crisis" in conjunction with our side-event "Rights and Responsibility: Climate Litigation in a Post-Paris world" on Nov, 16th (Bonn Zone).
Climate Justice: The international momentum towards climate litigation: https://www.boell.de/en/2016/11/15/climate-justice-international-momentum-towards-climate-litigation
Energy & Infrastructure
Events
Side Event: Infrastructure: Make it or break it for Paris implementation. Why we need a transition test for new infrastructure. Organized by hbs Berlin, Germanwatch, Stockholm Environment Institute, 7 November, 2:00-3:30 pm; EU Pavilion, Bonn Zone
Press conference: Presentation of the Energy Transition Scenarios for Ukraine and Belarus: towards 100% renewables by 2050. Organized by CAN EECCA and hbs Ukraine office, 14 Nov, 2:00 2:30 pm; Press Conference Room 2, BULA Zone
Publications
Website Energytransition. The Global Energiewende; www.energytransition.org
Coal Atlas: Facts and figures on a fossil fuel
Aligning infrastructure investments with the long-term climate goals – The case for a transition test. By Gerrit Hansen (Germanwatch), Jörg Haas (hbs) and Pete Erickson (SEI) – to be launched in December 2017.