Lima climate talks end: narrow outcome gives more clarity on path to Paris

(NEW YORK/ LIMA – Dec. 14, 2014)  The annual United Nations climate talks concluded in Lima, Peru, with a narrow outcome that provides some additional clarity on the path to finalizing a new climate agreement next year in Paris, according to Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Expectations for the talks in Lima were always modest, with goals of clarifying how countries will report their “intended nationally determined contributions” in early 2015, and identifying the main elements of the agreement to be negotiated next year and wrapped up in Paris. After going well past their Friday deadline, nations were able to make limited progress on both goals.

“The foot-dragging in Lima is out of step with the urgent signs of climate change that are already apparent in Peru’s melting glaciers and threatened fisheries, as well as around the globe,” said Nathaniel Keohane, Vice President for international climate at EDF. “To finalize an effective climate agreement in Paris next year, negotiators will have to move past the tired tactics and old ways of thinking that were on display these last two weeks.”

Countries go into 2015 needing to focus on the creation of an agreement that facilitates domestic climate action, fosters accountability and increasing ambition, and supports adaptation in the poorest, most vulnerable nations.

“We will not solve climate change with a single UN agreement,” said Keohane. “What an agreement in Paris can do is build a structure that spurs countries to be more ambitious, makes them accountable for their progress, and gives them the confidence that other countries are taking action as well.”

A striking aspect of these negotiations was the increasing presence and visibility of state and provincial governments, who are not formal participants in the talks but in many cases are implementing climate policies of their own. Beginning next year, California will have the world’s first economy-wide emissions trading system, as it extends that program to include transportation fuels. And last month, California and Quebec held their first joint auction, cementing the year-old linkage between the two states’ emissions trading programs. In Lima, Ontario announced that it will host a Climate Summit of the Americas in July, focused on building subnational action.

“Momentum is building in North America on climate action and carbon pricing,” said Derek Walker, Associate Vice President in EDF’s U.S. climate and energy program. “State and provincial leaders do not have to wait for Washington or Ottawa or the UN to take action. They are seizing the opportunity that is in front of them and taking concrete steps to build thriving low-carbon economies.”

The progress made in states and provinces underscores a growing theme: Despite the slow pace of these talks, momentum continues to build on climate action outside the UN negotiations. Public and private sector actors came together at the Leaders Summit in New York in September to launch a number of “working coalitions” on deforestation, agriculture, oil and gas production. The U.S. and China announced major actions on climate change in November. 

“With each passing year, more and more momentum on climate change is building outside the UNFCCC,” said Keohane. “The UN talks remain a valuable forum — the one place where all countries come together to discuss climate change. But as we have seen in the past few months, there are now multiple ways forward on climate change, including direct cooperation between nations, action by states and provinces, and engagement by the private sector. To make progress at the scale and pace required to meet the challenge of climate change, we need to take advantage of every pathway we have.”