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Climate Change Policy

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2012

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Questions (421)

Clare Daly

Question:

421. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government noting that the Kyoto extension negotiated in Doha will only cover 15% of the world's greenhouse emissions, the current expected compensation costs from 2020 that Ireland has signed up to. [56284/12]

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Written answers

At the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, Parties agreed to adopt a second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol from 2013 to 2020 as part of an overall balanced package of measures to progress negotiations towards a single, global, legally binding climate agreement for all Parties by 2015. Apart from EU Member States, the other Parties who have indicated that they will join the second commitment period (CP2) are Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Monaco. Altogether, these CP2 participants accounted for approximately 13% of global CO2 emissions in 2011.

The Doha outcomes also include significant progress on the negotiation track under the Durban Platform preparing for the 2015 agreement. At the same time, work on enhancing Parties’ climate mitigation ambition in advance of the coming into force of the new agreement in 2020 will continue during 2013. A process to review binding commitments under the Kyoto Protocol was also agreed at Doha, to be undertaken during 2014.

In Doha, Parties also agreed to a major work programme on “Loss and Damage”. This refers to the harm caused by climate impacts when mitigation and adaptation efforts have failed, and it was a key objective of least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS), many of whom are already feeling the damaging impacts of climate change. The new work programme will address, inter alia , filling knowledge gaps, promoting systematic observation, improving climate risk management as well as elaborating on appropriate institutional arrangements.

Developed country Parties have been asked to continue to provide resources and assistance to developing countries in respect of climate finance, capacity building and technology transfer, in accordance with previous relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties. These issues will be further progressed and clarified in future UNFCCC discussions, including at COP 19 in Warsaw which takes place in November 2013.

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