COP 19 in Warsaw – Jo O’Neill

Guest blog from Jo O’Neill, Policy Officer at SCIAF (Saturday 23rd November 2013, written from COP 19 in Warsaw)

Here at the national football stadium in Warsaw, the COP has gone into extra time.

The negotiations – which were set to end yesterday – have been taking place throughout the night and as I write this, the discussions look no closer to reaching a conclusion.

For those of us still in Warsaw, a long night looks set to become a rather long day.

Reflecting the mood of many developing nations, the Bangladesh representative said this morning: “Our expectations have been shattered, we are saddened”. The representative for the G77 and China added: “We are beginning to wonder really…the available outcome of the talks we are having.”

Unsurprisingly, one of the key sticking points of the talks is finance. While (in a rare bright moment of this COP) some cash was pledged to the Adaptation Fund during the week, G77 countries and the least developed countries are frustrated that there is still no roadmap for commitments between now and 2020 on the $100bn climate finance promise.

The other major challenge here is agreeing on a pathway to the 2015 global climate deal in Paris, which would set out emissions cuts pledges before 2020 as well as milestones to 2015.

The debate on loss and damage also rumbles on, with talk of creating a ‘Warsaw mechanism on loss and damage’ for addressing the damage experienced as a result of climate change. Some developing countries are demanding much more ambition from the draft text that is currently being discussed.

As the talks went on last night activists took to the seats of the national stadium to voice their frustration. “Stop climate madness” was the chant. We can only hope that today delegates heed their call.