5-6 June 2008, Hafslund Manor, Sarpsborg, Norway
Open letter to Presidents, Prime Ministers, Parliamentarians, negotiators, and other
stakeholders committed to advancing the climate change agenda and international
agreements.
Dear colleagues,
Recently we convened a high level discussion in Norway to consider the issue of technology
and financing in relation to the international climate agreement negotiations leading up to the
UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen in December 2009.
Those who attended the discussion included former heads of State and government, ministers,
industry leaders of existing and emerging technologies, representatives of the banking sector,
global financing institutions, hedge funds, UNFCCC negotiators, academia and environmental
NGOs.
The conference recognized that the risks of climate change have been quantified and demand
urgent action to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2050 and by at
least 80 per cent in developed countries, as well as to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations
to prevent dangerous climate change. Progress in technological development has been
achieved since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated, providing new tools to combat climate
change while facilitating economic growth and wealth creation.
A post-2012 international agreement on climate change must break new ground in
international cooperation. It will require consciously promoting a collaborative atmosphere of
trust and a sense of common interest similar to the ‘spirit of Montreal’ that has characterized
twenty years of international cooperation since the Montreal Protocol on protecting the ozone
layer. A post-2012 agreement must aim to promote a global technological revolution that will
transform the world’s energy system within a few decades. While the scope is huge, it can be
focused, recognizing that only about 25 nations – including both developed and rapidly
industrializing nations – account for about 85 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas
emissions.
In this letter we present the key messages coming from the Conference for your consideration.
While these are meant to contribute to the consideration of technology and finance issues in
the course of international negotiations leading up to the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties
in Copenhagen in 2009, they should also be useful in the discussion of these issues in other
fora.
CC8 discussions reflected a broad range of views of participants from developed and
developing countries, politics, academia, business and environmental groups. From this
diversity, common ground emerged. The participants gave their broad support to the
following points:
A firm foundation for post-2012 cooperation must build on acknowledging important
challenges. It must be:
- Effective – reaching defined goals.
- Efficient – exploiting both low costs and high dynamic potential of markets.
- Equitable – ensuring cooperation by combining justice, ability and opportunity.
To be on track towards global cooperation:
- It must be demonstrated that low-carbon growth is feasible.
- There must be increased support for adaptation.
- There must be cooperation on technological development and change.
Importantly, a post-2012 framework should ensure pricing of greenhouse gas emissions,
building on the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period 2008-2012.
1: An international agreement to promote climate change technologies
An international agreement for the post-2012 period needs to be flexible and simple.
Cooperation is necessary to ensure large reductions in emissions in this century. In addition to
stimulating emission reductions directly, it should address the needs for finance sufficient to
cover the cost of emissions abatement and increased adaptation in developing countries, and
ways to achieve far-reaching technological change. Informal or formal mechanisms should go
forward urgently, notwithstanding progress on a global climate agreement.
Provisions in this respect should reflect the following imperatives:
2: Boost longer term research, development and deployment of climate change
mitigation and adaptation technologies internationally, using public resources and
triggering private sector investments
- A post-2012 climate regime must boost public resources for research, development and
deployment (RD&D) of appropriate existing technologies and catalyse far-reaching
technological change.
- Developed countries should invest or contribute at least 0.1% of GDP from
public budgets to climate technology research.
- Public funding is required for demonstration projects to ensure
commercialization of emerging technologies like CO2 capture and storage and
renewable energy.
- Measures are needed to accelerate the deployment of promising existing
technologies.
- Such public efforts could be undertaken nationally (based on pledges to the international
community) or through international collaborative efforts. International mechanisms
should be non-bureaucratic, similar to the consultative group on agricultural research
(CGIAR) and such previous experience in international cooperation as the global
cooperation on confronting HIV/AIDS and smallpox.
- Successful interaction between public and private sectors is essential to the necessary
paradigm shifts in RD&D. Countries and the international community should explore and
coordinate a multitude of instruments to stimulate private-sector technology investment.
- Effective RD&D requires clarity of signals and an absence of vexatious barriers. Domestic
and international institutions and policies should be as stable, transparent and predictable
as possible.
- Commitments to joint use and wide access should be ensured, for instance through joint
development projects between developed and developing countries.
- International rules should facilitate the development and transfer of both new energy
technologies and adaptation technologies to countries in need of international assistance.
An international agreement should aim to balance the incentives for innovation and
diffusion including through innovative approaches to intellectual property rights.
3: Make low-carbon technologies top priority
- No low-carbon technology should be excluded from RD&D support. It is just as essential
to support work on energy efficiency as on new energy supply technologies.
- Correct pricing of energy is a central element of energy efficiency, taking due
consideration of social concerns.
- Appropriate standards and regulations should be established to boost development of the
best technologies, such as:
- Establish national and international best practices for new buildings and for
minimizing energy consumption in existing buildings.
- Establish national and international targets for transport efficiency to minimize
energy consumption, and consider a measurement in kWh/km as the foundation
for such a strategy.
- Particular attention must be focused on developing infrastructure solutions for energy
storage.
4: Effective and substantial international climate funding
- To ensure private funding for development and application of new technologies, establish
a well functioning global carbon market as soon as possible, if necessary with a
government guaranteed minimum price for carbon.
- As part of the international post-2012 climate regime, provide adequate public financing
to developing countries for:
- Adaptation to climate change.
- Compensation for ecological services, such as measures to avoid deforestation.
- Additional official development aid to foster low-carbon economic development,
or the creation of a multilateral fund similar to the precedent of the Montreal
Protocol to facilitate the financing of technology transfer.
5: Make climate policy ‘work for all’, identifying the driving forces needed to build
commitment among pertinent stakeholders and to mobilize new political constituencies
and domestic coalitions in support of urgent action on effective, efficient and equitable
climate change policies.
- Political leadership will be essential in achieving this. Broad coalitions must be sought
among government, political parties, business, trade unions, civil society, and academia to
work together in the formulation of policies that will accelerate credible, predictable and
stable regulatory frameworks favourable to clean-energy investment and opportunities.
- Communication is key. Citizens must be better informed regarding the challenges but also
the opportunities and benefits of clean-energy development and new climate change
policies. Education is essential in this regard. The government, civil society organizations
and the media have a crucial role to play, responding to people’s concerns and creating the
environment needed to engage citizens around change and transformation.
- Trust, credibility and stability are needed to forge solid alliances around policy changes.
- Facilitating compliance with commitments and policies will be essential to ensure
domestic support.
- Cross country learning on coalition building around clean energy issues should be fostered
and facilitated. Some of the national examples mentioned were:
- Coalitions in the Netherlands between cities and businesses allowing these to
move further and faster than national governments in implementing climate
friendly policies and frameworks.
- A variety of coalitions in the US have brought together businesses and
individuals/citizens; labour unions and environmentalists; academia and decision
makers on clean-energy issues.
- In Norway, parties across the political spectrum have built a climate policy
coalition and agreed on concrete means.
Our commitment
The participants at the CC8 conference further recognise that an ambitious international
climate regime that reflects the above criteria will come to fruition only if politicians,
businesses, trade unions, environmental groups and the rest of civil society form strong
collaborative alliances to provide UNFCCC negotiators with a mandate for action. The
participants pledge themselves to work together for their respective governments to take on
ambitious commitments at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Copenhagen
in December 2009.
