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Climate Talks in Ghana: What's at Stake

Latest round of U.N. climate meetings in Accra lead up to final talks in Copenhagen in 2009

Posted: 18-Aug-2008; Updated: 10-Nov-2008

From August 21-27, 2008, delegations from around the world will meet in Accra, Ghana, to discuss ways to reduce global warming pollution. A main topic will be cutting emissions by slowing deforestation, or "reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)."

Environmental Defense Fund delegates will be there to advocate innovative solutions for averting dangerous climate change, such as:

  • Compensated reduction, our approach of using market forces to address the enormous problem of tropical deforestation, which contributes about 20 percent to total global warming pollution annually. (See Getting REDD Right [PDF].)
  • Clean investment budgets (CIBs), a tool to help developing nations participate more robustly in carbon markets, giving them funding for innovative low- and zero-carbon technologies and enabling sustainable economic growth.

What are the Accra Climate Change Talks?

The week-long meeting in Accra continues climate talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty. Since 1992, over 190 of the world's countries have joined the UNFCCC to recognize the serious problem of global warming and begin finding solutions.

In 2005, with most industrialized nations in the UNFCCC on board, an additional treaty went into effect: the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol caps emissions of more than 30 industrialized countries and has established what has quickly become a multi-billion dollar emissions trading market.

In December 2007, the climate talks in Bali, Indonesia produced a two-year road map (Bali Action Plan) for negotiating a new climate deal to take effect in 2013, when the Kyoto Protocol expires. The Accra talks will bring nations closer to reaching an agreement by December 2009 when negotiators meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to finalize a "global deal."      

Why are the Accra talks important?

In Ghana, governments and civil society for the first time will look in-depth at how, and from what sources, money can be channeled to developing countries to compensate them for reducing their emissions from deforestation.

The meeting in Ghana is one of several meetings on the road to Copenhagen. At each step of the way, nations will consider policies and incentives for reducing global warming pollution.  Approaches such as compensated reduction (CR) and clean investment budgets (CIBs) are two promising considerations that can help lead all countries to a future climate agreement.

What does Environmental Defense Fund hope to achieve?

Our main goals are to:

  • Help foster a deal that will encourage all major emitting nations to make deep and broad cuts in global warming pollution, using the powerful engine of carbon markets to spur innovation, stimulate green economic growth and grind down costs.
  • Share the latest analyses on the science of climate change and economics of market-based approaches to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).
  • Garner worldwide support for compensated reduction (CR), the market-based program that compensates countries for reducing deforestation. (Learn more about compensated reduction.)
  • Involve indigenous people in the UNFCCC climate negotiations, especially as spokespeople for protecting forests and ensuring fair compensation for REDD.
  • Continue our campaign for the U.S. to enact a strong cap on greenhouse gas emissions and restore U.S. leadership in international climate negotiations.

How will Environmental Defense Fund participate?

Environmental Defense Fund, like other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), attends the U.N. climate talks as an observer organization and may participate in the negotiation process by talking to key negotiators one-on-one and in formal and informal groups. 

In Ghana, our team will use a variety of ways to influence and shape policy decisions. We will share our ideas with representatives from governments and civil society, answer questions about our work, talk to the media and make formal presentations.

Our team of experts and partners will host presentations on three important themes:

  • Innovative policy tools for reaching global emissions targets, including clean investment budgets (CIBs);
  • Tropical carbon supply and international carbon markets, with discussions of quantitative analyses and our preferred policy approach for reducing emissions from deforestation, compensated reduction; and 
  • Forest peoples' land rights and how the recognition of land rights in the Amazon will be key to the success of REDD.

Environmental Defense Fund will also offer our perspective on climate action in the U.S. Congress, various states and the private sector. Actions at these levels will assure U.N. negotiators that the U.S. is on its way toward adopting a mandatory national cap-and-trade system.

Stay updated on the progress we make in Ghana by checking for postings on our Accra Climate Talk Blog.

Reports, position papers and presentations

Our team will also distribute reports and position papers on a variety of issues:

Reports:

Two-page position papers:

Presentations:

Who will represent Environmental Defense Fund in Accra?

Our Climate and Air team has over 20 years' experience in the international climate negotiating process. Our advocacy in the past has helped set meeting agendas, and our recommendations have been included as key components of carbon markets and the Bali Roadmap.

Our Delegation

Jennifer Haverkamp Jason Funk
Korinna Horta Gernot Wagner
Ruben Lubowski James Wang
Steve Schwartzman Emily Martin
Gustavo Silva-Chávez Clare Sierawski
Richie Ahuja  

Highlights of our work in 2008

Some developments from our work in 2008 are summarized below:

At the U.N. climate treaty talks:

  • Bonn, Germany - With the Italian research groups Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change (CMCC) and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Environmental Defense Fund presented preliminary economic analyses during during an event at a June UNFCCC meeting.

The presentation illustrated the benefits of including credits from reduced deforestation in future carbon markets and dispelled concerns of a "market-flooding" scenario.

With indigenous peoples' groups:

  • Brazil - In March, Environmental Defense Fund and the Brazilian organization Amazon Institute for Environmental Research (IPAM) brought together dozens of indigenous leaders from tropical nations for a workshop in the Amazonian city of Manaus.

The workshop focused on indigenous peoples' rights and the need to broaden their voice on REDD in the UNFCCC negotiations. Two important outcomes of the three-day seminar were the creation of a document known as the Manaus Declaration [PDF] and a news article in The New York Times: Amazon's 'Forest Peoples' Seek a Role in Striking Global Climate Agreements.

  • Ecuador - In August, Environmental Defense Fund and IPAM  participated in a meeting of the Coordenadora de las Organizaciones Indigenas de la Cuenca Amazônica (COICA), made up of the nine national indigenous organizations of the Amazon nations.

The meeting produced the Quito Declaration, and will lead to national-level discussions of REDD in the Amazon countries.

With U.S. constituencies: 

  • Forest Carbon Dialogue (FCD) - Environmental Defense Fund is a founding member of a group of businesses and environmental organizations that acknowledges that forests play a major role in avoiding global warming.

Our goal is to make sure U.S. legislation has forest carbon provisions. This year, the FCD agreed on a set of Forest Carbon Principles that seeks to include tropical forest carbon credits in a U.S. cap-and-trade program.

  • U.S. Senate - In February, our Senior Counsel, Jennifer Haverkamp, testified before the Senate Finance Committee on the international aspects of U.S. climate legislation. (Read the testimony [PDF].)

Her testimony reiterated the importance of reducing deforestation, both for the atmosphere and for the participation of developing countries in the next international climate agreement. 

  • U.S. House - In May, Dr. Ruben Lubowski, Forest Carbon Market Fellow, testified before the House Agriculture Subcommittee.  As part of his testimony, he advocated strongly for credits from reduced deforestation to be included in a U.S. carbon market. (Read the testimony [PDF].)

 

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