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Shaping policy for development

An overview of Lagoro IDP camp in Kitgum District, northern Uganda, 20 May 2007. Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
Fri, 11/16/2012 - 07:04 -- Anonymous (not verified)

ODI On... 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, Copenhagen

6 December 2009 - 4 January 2010

meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Copenhagen, will attempt to deliver a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.  The outcome of the meeting will have a huge impact on the world’s poor and their struggle to secure a decent and sustainable future.  This has engaged the energies of ODI researchers across the range of climate change issues to be debated: from mitigation and low carbon growth, through adaptation strategies and plans, to the financing of such actions and the role of the international community in helping developing countries respond to the unprecedented challenge of climate change.

Outputs
Overview
Outputs

The Copenhagen Accord: lofty plans and blurred allegiances

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 21 December 2009
The push for an international agreement to combat climate change in Copenhagen was erratic, to say the least. Even for those of us inside the conference centre, the negotiations were hard to follow, with so much of the work carried out behind closed doors.  The two weeks of talks, which followed two years of negotiations, came to a strange end with the sidelining of the slow but democratic UN process. President Obama arrived, determined to break through the climate deadlock.
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Natasha Grist

Copenhagen: No pro-poor agriculture? No thanks

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 17 December 2009
There has been a growing focus on climate change across the global agricultural community in the run up to the Copenhagen conference. There have been major summits (e.g. the High-Level Expert Forum, the World Food Summit) and agricultural institutions have produced reports on this issue (e.g. IFPRI, FAO). This year’s COP15 summit has seen the biggest ever gathering around the topic, the Agriculture and Rural Development day, complemented by well-attended side events.
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Neil Bird

Climate distrust – the legacy of development cooperation

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 15 December 2009
An agreement in Copenhagen is hanging by a thread and we must wait until the end of this week to see what sort of global agreement can be secured. One aspect is clear, however:  the level of trust between developing and developed countries appears to be at an all time low. As international agreements are built upon such trust this is a matter of considerable concern. How have we reached this point? A lot of the blame can be laid at the door of donor countries who have failed to meet their development assistance pledges over the years.
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Copenhagen: is a global deal still possible?

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 15 December 2009
The walk outs at the COP15 talks in Copenhagen yesterday highlighted the challenges of international negotiations. While talks have resumed, albeit informally, the sticking point is the failure, according to the Africa Group, of the rich nations to commit to emissions cuts beyond 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol.  There was a similar suspension last week when the Pacific Island of Tuvalu insisted on a full debate to amend the Protocol.

Cause for concern? Well, it has compounded worries that part of the global deal being sought in Copenhagen disappearing out of sight.

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Financing adaptation: matching form with function

Publication - Discussion papers - 10 December 2009
ODI Background Notes
Jessica Brown and Nanki Kaur

This Background Note offers a critique of the ways in which the financial architecture to support adaptation to climate change is taking shape in international negotiations, and identifies important issues that need to be taken into account when designing this new architecture.

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Beyond grants: climate finance in developing countries

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 4 December 2009

Developing countries need massive amounts of investment to support a shift to low carbon and climate resilient growth and development. According to the World Development Report 2010, mitigation in developing countries could cost between $140 to 175 billion per year over the next 20 years, with adaptation investments rising to an average of $30 to $100 billion a year between 2010 and 2050. Yet efforts to raise funding for mitigation and adaptation have been inadequate, and, to date, amount to less than 5% of projected needs.

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The last push for Copenhagen: do integrated assessment models help?

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 2 December 2009
There is growing debate around climate change issues as we reach the final countdown to Copenhagen. A growing number of politicians, including Andrew Mitchell MP, UK Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, are setting out their policies on climate change in advance of this crucial summit.

The Copenhagen negotiations on climate change policies will depend on what ‘numbers’ policy makers have on mitigation costs. These numbers are normally drawn from economists’ studies that use complex methodologies: integrated assessment models (IAMs).

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Karen Ellis

Must developing countries sacrifice growth to save the planet?

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 2 December 2009

Examining the arguments that countries can have either economic growth or environmental sustainability, but not both, this Opinion argues that developing countries need to find climate resilient growth strategies (i.e. growth strategies that are achievable despite the impact of climate change). They will also need to identify and manage opportunities (such as new markets or sources of finance) and risks (such as trade barriers or changing patterns of demand) that arise from international mitigation efforts, if they are to maximise their future growth prospects.

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Financing energy efficiency - good for the environment and good for development

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 2 December 2009

The promotion of environmental global public goods is one of the most pressing global challenges, with a profound impact on development. A look at the literature reveals that global public goods tend to be underprovided. And when it comes to climate change, polluting countries do not pay enough, while some actors ‘free ride’ when they enjoy the benefits of clean environment without bearing the costs.

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The Little Climate Finance Book

Publication - Books or book chapters - 1 December 2009
Charlie Parker, Jessica Brown, Jonathan Pickering, Emily Roynestad, Niki Mardas, Andrew W. Mitchell

The Little Finance Book also aims to demystify some of the key concepts around financial mechanisms that currently hinder negotiations.

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Overview

Binding emission reductions were not agreed at Copenhagen. However, significant new pledges were made to support developing countries respond to climate change. This collection of materials from ODI focuses on the challenges that such countries will face as they continue to seek economic growth and a reduction in poverty. 

ODI’s research explores the relationship between climate change and development. It is a broad agenda: how to secure low carbon growth; the ways and means of raising new and additional finance to tackle climate change; the role of forests in national mitigation strategies. Research tools such as scenario planning can provide important insights, and the role of knowledge intermediaries in bridging the gap between the research and policy communities is becoming ever more important. We also need to better understand the terms of international agreements if we are to see a stronger outcome for developing countries at the next COP meeting in Mexico City in November 2010. All these papers offer important new insights to help secure this goal.

Climate and Environment
International Economic Development Group