La barre des 1.000 milliards de dollars investis dans les investissements liés au climat dans les pays en développement a été franchie.

Les Echos (França) – Les financements privés à la rescousse des pays en développement

La barre des 1.000 milliards de dollars investis dans les investissements liés au climat dans les pays en développement a été franchie. Le secteur des énergies renouvelables y prend des airs d'Eldorado.

Le chiffre donne le tournis, même s'il n'est qu'un avant-goût des « montagnes financières » que les pays en développement vont devoir déplacer si l'on veut mettre au pas le réchauffement de la planète. Le marché des investissements « climato-compatibles » y dépasse le billion de dollars - autrement dit plus de 1.000 milliards de la monnaie américaine -, selon une toute récente étude de l'International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Mais il en faudra beaucoup plus à ces pays pour arriver à se mettre être en ligne avec les objectifs de l'accord de Paris sur le climat. Les experts de cette filiale de la Banque mondiale estiment que ce sont des  « milliers de milliards » qu'il va leur falloir parvenir à lever auprès des investisseurs privés.

La tâche est titanesque mais pas insurmontable. « Le secteur privé a toutes les cartes en main : l'innovation, le financement et les outils », considère Philippe Le Houérou, le PDG d'IFC. « Mais le déclenchement de ses interventions demande des réformes et des business models innovants propres à faire émerger de nouveaux marchés », prévient-il.

L'eau en tête des secteurs les plus porteurs

L'Egypte vient d'en fournir l'exemple. Il y a une semaine, les dirigeants du pays signaient un accord pour réaliser une tranche d' un des plus grands parcs d'énergie solaires au monde : 13 centrales d'une capacité totale d'environ 752 MW, pouvant alimenter plus de 350.000 personnes. Un projet estimé à 823 millions de dollars sur lequel l'IFC a engagé 202 millions, entraînant dans son sillage un kyrielle de bailleurs de fonds privés pour plus de 450 millions de dollars. Les réformes prises au niveau gouvernemental ont été décisives, assure le staff de l'IFC.

De telles opportunités d'investissement, pour peu qu'on les facilite, seraient légion. Dans le secteur des énergies renouvelables, il y en aurait pour 11.000 milliards de dollars d'ici à 2040, estiment les experts de la Banque Mondiale. Le bâtiment, lui, pourrait générer 3.400 milliards de marchés d'ici à 2025, dès lors que les pays du sud se dotent de normes de qualité plus strictes et décident d'accorder les encouragements financiers nécessaires.

Le marché de l'adduction d'eau et de l'assainissement bat tous les records. L'IFC lui prédit un « chiffre d'affaires » de 13.000 milliards d'euros cumulés d'ici à 2030. Mais encore faut-il que les Etats concernés jouent le jeu. Primo, en fixant un mode de tarification compatible avec les capacités d'emprunt des investisseurs. Secondo, en facilitant les partenariat pubic-privé dans ce secteur.

L'agrobusiness, un peu moins prometteur

Les secteurs les plus dificiles à cerner en termes d' «investissement climat » sont les transports urbains. L'étude estime tout de même à des « milliers de milliards de dollars les sommes susceptibles de devoir être mobilisés dans la décennie à venir », pour adapter les infrasctures et rendre les réseaux plus performants. Les besoins en capitaux de l'agro-business sont du même ordre de grandeur.Joel Cossardeaux

The Fiji Times (Ilhas Fiji) – How COP23 organisers are tackling waste

 BIG international meetings like COP23 in Bonn attract a lot of people and they generate a certain amount of waste.

The organisers of the meeting are therefore paying a lot of attention to waste management and recycling from food wrappers to material needed to construct entire temporary buildings.

On a global scale, the prevention and recovery of waste helps avoid greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy.

Reducing waste is therefore essential to achieving the objectives set out both in the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

"The basic idea is to avoid creating waste in the first place," says Stefanie Degreif, who works for the Oeko Institute and contributed to a COP23 sustainability concept commissioned by Germany's Environment Ministry.

"Where you can't avoid creating waste, try to re-use it. That means properly collecting and separating the waste, and then recycling it. Only at the very end of the process do you dispose of what could neither be avoided nor re-used," she added.

Taking things step by step

The way in which sustainability researchers such as Ms Degreif tackle the topic of waste management at a conference is to take things step by step.

"We start by asking ourselves what participants actually do and experience at the meeting. That way, we identify for instance, questions such as what material is the cup made out of from which I drink my coffee and so on. And then we make changes."

At COP23, the majority of coffee cups handed out will indeed be "multi-use", as will other crockery and cutlery used at the catering stations. To reduce the amount of single-use water bottles and cups, all participants will receive a free multi-use bottle for use with water fountains available throughout the conference venue.

In addition, participants will be encouraged to donate the deposit of any bottles purchased at the Bonn Zone by leaving empty bottles in designated containers.

The proceeds from this action will be donated to the New World Program, a partnership between the Coca Cola Foundation and the Global Water Challenge.

But it's not just the use of plastic organisers would like to avoid, it's paper, too. In sharp contrast to earlier major UN climate change conferences, over the past few years COPs have for the most part become "paper light" events.

COP21 Paris

It has become relatively rare for delegates and officials to pore over hard copies of documents.

While hard copies of newsletters, event summaries and the daily program used to be readily available at UN climate meetings — and flood the halls — key information these days is always available electronically. On request, conference delegates can still obtain print-outs , but then they are then double-sided and on recycled paper.

Making waste separation and collection as simple as possible

While the use of paper, throw-away plastic bottles and cups can and should be reduced, participants will at some point throw away paper, plastic wrappers, and rests of food such as banana peels.

At COP 23, this garbage will be collected separately — not an easy task given that in different countries, people have different customs when it comes to collecting and recycling waste.

Color coding and simple icons are supposed to make waste separation easier for participants.

"We are trying to make it as easy as possible," said Marc Nettelbeck who is with the COP23 Sustainability Task Force.

"The trash bins all look alike, but they are color-coded. For instance blue bins are always for paper. In addition, we use symbols and pictograms, making things even clearer."

Should any participant approach trash bins, waste in hand and looking lost, there will be volunteers who can assist in correctly disposing of scratch paper, plastic bottles, or candy wrappers, Mr Nettelbeck said.

Almost all temporary structures of COP23 will be re-used

Major UN Climate Change Conferences are large and need a lot of space. The precise location of COPs is usually only known at relatively short notice, so it is difficult to make advance bookings.

As a result, they require temporary buildings to complement existing ones on location. At COP23, the area hosting climate action events, side events, exhibits and media activities as well as delegation pavilions — the so-called "Bonn" is entirely made up of temporary structures. Even in the "Bula" zone, where the UN climate negotiations will take place, there is a number of temporary structures.

But temporary doesn't mean single-use, said Vu Le Anh, also a member of the COP23 Sustainability Task Force.

"Most of the materials used for these temporary structures are going to be used for other projects afterwards," said Mr Anh, "so this is not something that is used for two weeks and then thrown away."

The same holds true for carpets used in the temporary buildings, many of which are made up of relatively small tiles.

This so-called modular structure helps avoid waste.

"If there's a stain on one part of the carpet, you don't have to throw away the whole thing, but only the tile that is actually stained," he explained.

Some waste really cannot be avoided. But Dennis Winkler, who leads the COP23 Sustainability Task Force, hopes that even small pieces of material will be put to good use.

It is planned to collect most of the promotional banners and canvas planes for upcycling and possibly produce bags out of them, or use the material to make reusable bottles for COP24 in Poland.

COP 23 testa resiliência do “espírito de Paris”

Por Claudio Angelo, do Observatório do Clima

segunda-feira, 06 novembro 2017 17:08

Comente

Trump anuncia saída do Acordo de Paris. Foto: Reprodução de TV.

A 23^a conferência do clima da ONU começou nesta segunda-feira (6) em Bonn com uma missão declarada: rascunhar o livro de regras do acordo do clima de Paris. No entanto, o que estará à prova nas plenárias e nos corredores do Centro Mundial de Conferências da antiga capital alemã é a própria capacidade dos 196 países-membros da Convenção do Clima de manter viva a lógica que permitiu o tratado de 2015. O espírito do “um por todos, todos por um” que animou Paris enfrenta seu primeiro teste real.

É fundamental, obviamente, que a conferência de Bonn termine com um texto que permita a finalização do complexo manual de implementação do Acordo de Paris em 2018. Mas o que realmente importa na COP23 é a maneira como a presidência de Fiji conduzirá a preparação para o chamado “Diálogo Facilitativo”, também marcado para 2018. Trata-se da primeira conversa séria sobre a insuficiência das metas postas na mesa para limitar o aquecimento global a “bem menos de 2^oC” e “envidar esforços para limitá-lo a 1,5^oC. Será uma conversa difícil.

Para não dizer que nada avança na diplomacia climática, os fijianos já conseguiram um feito extraordinário: mudar o nome do “Diálogo Facilitativo” para algo mais tropical e sexy, “Diálogo Talanoa”, que remete a pegação na praia luau, batida de coco e espetinho de camarão. O problema é que será necessário mais do que isso. O Diálogo Talanoa precisa desmontar a arapuca armada por Donald Trump, que botou os países em desenvolvimento na defensiva ao suspender os repasses para o Fundo Verde do Clima. Sem financiamento adequado, o mundo emergente se recusa a discutir aumento da ambição no corte de emissões. Mas os europeus, que querem ver ambição na mesa, não se dispõem a pagar a parte dos EUA na conta. Restaura-se, assim, o jogo de empurra que produziu 20 anos de inação no clima.

“Um entendimento sem precedentes entre o maior emissor histórico de gases de efeito estufa, os EUA, e o maior emissor corrente, a China, somado a uma costura hábil da diplomacia francesa, impulsionou uma trégua histórica na lógica de soma zero que sempre imperou nas negociações”.

Em 2015, o multilateralismo andava nu e falava com os bichos. Um entendimento sem precedentes entre o maior emissor histórico de gases de efeito estufa, os EUA, e o maior emissor corrente, a China, somado a uma costura hábil da diplomacia francesa, impulsionou uma trégua histórica na lógica de soma zero que sempre imperou nas negociações. Até Paris, o que tirava os diplomatas da cama era a necessidade de evitar serem passados para trás: se você ganha, eu necessariamente perco. O estabelecimento de regras internacionais para combater a mudança do clima era visto como um esforço de repartição justa de ônus.

O Acordo de Paris foi um dos raros momentos em que o contexto mundial permitiu aos políticos vislumbrar o iceberg climático para o qual tanto ricos (vide os incêndios florestais que arrasaram a chique zona vinícola da Califórnia) quanto pobres (vide os furacões no Caribe e a seca no Nordeste do Brasil) rumavam enquanto seus negociadores discutiam sobre quem era mais incompetente ao timão. Fechou-se um tratado engenhoso, que abria a possibilidade de revisão quinquenal para aumentar a ambição das metas nacionais até que o problema estivesse resolvido. Assim, não seria mais necessário reabrir as regras e rediscutir toda a relação de tempos em tempos, um dos problemas do antecessor de Paris, o Protocolo de Kyoto.

Para obter um acordo, porém, Paris cometeu dois pecados pelos quais teria de responder cedo ou tarde. O primeiro foi estabelecer metas nacionais totalmente voluntárias, as NDCs – uma forma de arregimentar os EUA, cujo Senado jamais aprovaria obrigações internacionais compulsórias. O segundo, decorrente do primeiro, foi chutar para a frente a conversa sobre aumento de ambição, tanto em financiamento quanto em corte de emissões; afinal, em 2015 já estava claríssimo que o conjunto das metas dos países não fazia nem cócegas na mudança climática. Pois bem: o dia do juízo chegou.

A eleição-surpresa de Donald Trump, em 2016, durante a COP22, no Marrocos, expôs toda a fragilidade do arcabouço de Paris. Num sistema baseado em confiança e cooperação (algo que desafia as relações internacionais, geralmente movidas por força e coação), basta um grande jogador dar uma roubadinha para tudo desmoronar. Trump, que enxerga a vida como um jogo de soma zero, deu uma roubadona: suspendeu o cumprimento da NDC americana e cortou a contribuição com o Fundo Verde do Clima, que estaria “custando aos Estados Unidos uma vasta fortuna” (sic).

“Como discutir transparência e comparabilidade das NDCs quando o maior responsável pela mudança do clima não vai nem cumprir a sua?”.

 

Mesmo que os EUA não melem deliberadamente as conversas da COP de Fiji-Bonn – e nem teriam moral para isso, já que Trump anunciou a saída do Acordo de Paris, transformando seus delegados em mortos-vivos na negociação –, o clima de desconfiança já está instaurado e a trégua na polarização norte-sul já foi minada. Como discutir transparência e comparabilidade das NDCs quando o maior responsável pela mudança do clima não vai nem cumprir a sua? Como exigir de Índia, China e Brasil que ampliem suas metas pífias de corte de emissões quando nenhum país rico quer saber de aumentar seu igualmente pífio financiamento climático e menos ainda inteirar o calote americano?


Como fazer avançar o “pacote de solidariedade” de Fiji-Bonn, que inclui um mecanismo de perdas e danos para aliviar países vulneráveis impactados pelo clima (vide o Vietnã, que enfrenta neste momento o tufão Damrey), quando o governo do país mais rico do mundo age segundo a máxima do “eu quero que o pobre se exploda”? Caberá a Fiji, uma nação que teria todos os motivos do mundo para sentir-se injustiçada e amargurada, conduzir a COP e estruturar o Diálogo Talanoa circundando a ausência americana.

Há alguns elementos no mundo real que autorizam algum otimismo: pelo terceiro ano consecutivo, as emissões por uso de energia não subiram no mundo; a China e a Índia tendem a exceder o cumprimento de suas NDCs, o que não chega a ser um alívio para o clima, já que ambas são ridiculamente pouco ambiciosas, mas deve compensar em grande parte a defecção trumpiana; e os investimentos em energias renováveis e a queda do preço da energia solar mostram que cortar emissões hoje significa ganhar dinheiro, não perder. Com ou sem Acordo de Paris, a transição da matriz energética global para longe dos combustíveis fósseis é uma questão de “quando”, não de “se”.

O diabo é que o “quando”, no caso, importa mais do que nunca: o último relatório do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Meio Ambiente sobre o fosso entre metas globais e necessidade climática indica que, se a ambição não crescer até 2020, o mundo ficará impossibilitado de estabilizar o clima sem arrebentar a economia. A menos que alguma tecnologia revolucionária de remoção de carbono do ar ganhe escala, a janela de oportunidade se fecha daqui a pouco.

Governo quer reduzir a captura e a mortalidade de tartarugas

Por Sabrina Rodrigues

segunda-feira, 06 novembro 2017 19:40

Comente

O governo federal publicou nesta segunda-feira (06) portaria para reduzir a captura e a mortalidade 

de tartarugas marinhas por embarcações pesqueiras. Foto: Mescal83/Flickr.

O governo federal publicou nesta segunda-feira (06) a Portaria nº 74/2017 estabelecendo medidas mitigadoras para reduzir a captura incidental e da mortalidade de tartarugas marinhas por embarcações pesqueiras em três áreas: no mar territorial brasileiro, Zona Econômica Exclusiva brasileira e águas internacionais.

Segundo a portaria entende-se por medidas mitigadoras “o conjunto de estratégias, equipamentos, petrechos e métodos utilizados para evitar e reduzir a captura e mortalidade de tartarugas marinhas capturadas incidentalmente em operações de pesca”.

Entre as medidas adotadas está a obrigatoriedade das embarcações nacionais e estrangeiras em utilizarem anzóis circulares, ou seja, de formato circular, confeccionado em metal, sem argola, com ponteira virada em direção à haste.

O texto estabelece mais regras sobre quais equipamentos devem ser utilizados para embarques, retirada de anzóis, corte de linhas, assim como qual o procedimento deve ser adotado na soltura das tartarugas marinhas capturadas pelo espinhel (aparelho de pesca com a utilização de iscas para a atração dos peixes).

Saiba Mais
 
Portaria nº 74 de 1 de novembro de 2017

The Washington Post (EUA) – The world shrugs at Trump as global climate meeting begins in Bonn

By Brady Dennis and Chris Mooney

A year ago, the election of Donald Trump sent shock waves through a United Nations conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, where delegates from more than 190 countries had gathered to push forward with a landmark climate accord signed in Paris the previous year.

The deal suddenly seemed in jeopardy. If the United States backed out, as Trump promised, would other countries soon follow? A year later, Trump has moved to withdraw from the international agreement. But other nations have held firm to their pledges to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.

As delegates gather Monday in Bonn, Germany, for this year’s annual international climate talks, the United States finds itself largely on the sidelines. And the rest of the world seems to be reacting to the Trump administration with a collective shrug.

“There was speculation that the U.S. withdrawal might create some kind of domino effect, but in reality, this never happened,” said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a European Union spokeswoman for energy and climate action. “There hasn’t been a single party who announced they were leaving. Quite the contrary.”

Even Nicaragua, which initially refused to join the Paris agreement because it didn’t think the accord did enough to combat global climate change, recently announced its intention to sign on. That leaves only the United States and Syria at odds with the rest of the world.

In Bonn, a collection of U.S. governors, mayors, business leaders and philanthropic figures will try to step into the gap. They include former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee (D), Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) and California Gov. Jerry Brown (D).

“With Washington off to the side, California is going to assert itself because it has the experience, and we have the commitment. And we want to join with others,” Jerry Brown said in an interview. “So, we will play an important role as cheerleader in chief and also as collaborator.”

Still, he said that states, localities and companies can push the nation only so far toward meeting the goals of the Paris agreement and making a shift toward cleaner energy sources.

“We can fill maybe half the void,” said Brown, who was recently named a special adviser for states and regions to the Bonn conference. “We can do a lot, and we can carry the ball while Trump goes off in another direction. But soon, we need the national government.”

U.S. officials will not be entirely absent from the gathering in Bonn. The United States remains a party to the Paris accord simply because it takes four years to formally withdraw.

“The U.S. is sending a State Department-led delegation with a career diplomat in charge, and that seems to send a signal that they’re not going to Bonn to throw bombs or anything,” said Sue Biniaz, who was a lead climate lawyer at the agency until this year. “So I would expect civil interaction, in terms of the diplomatic negotiating process.”

The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to send political and career staffers, although Administrator Scott Pruitt plans to skip the conference.

Trump administration officials are expected to tout fossil fuels and nuclear energy as potential ways to reduce emissions and combat climate change during a session focused on how U.S. energy resources can aid poor countries in meeting growing electricity needs. The presentation, first reported by the New York Times and obtained by The Washington Post, is titled “The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation.”

“As the world seeks to reduce emissions while promoting economic prosperity, fossil fuels will continue to play a central role in the energy mix,” states an outline of the presentation, which will include speakers from coal giant Peabody Energy and from ­NuScale Power, a nuclear engineering firm.

Such an approach could trigger sharp reactions from other nations at the international conference, where the main focus of the Paris agreement is compelling countries to move away from fossil fuels toward more renewable forms of energy.

But mostly, some observers say, the United States probably won’t be a key player at the talks — a significant departure from its leading role under President Barack Obama.

“Trump is utterly isolated, and U.S. positions and negotiators will be largely ignored as a result. This has become a life-and-death issue for most countries,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser and lecturer at American University’s Center for Environmental Policy.

In Bonn, other nations have plenty of work to do to implement the Paris agreement. That includes discussing financing for developing countries to help with climate adaptation and emissions reductions, laying down guidelines for determining how much countries will need to increase the ambitiousness of emissions reductions in future years, and setting up mechanisms to monitor and verify whether nations are living up to their pledges.

The global meeting in Germany begins days after the release of a dire report from the U.S. government, which affirmed that human activity is the dominant driver of global warming — a conclusion at odds with White House policies and the president’s rhetoric.

The report warns of potential sea level rise as high as eight feet by the year 2100, and details climate-related damage across the United States that is unfolding as a result of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of global warming since 1900.

At the same time, the United Nations’ Environment Program recently published its annual “emissions gap” report, which documents just how far off course the world is from its professed goals under the Paris agreement of holding the warming of the planet to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

It found that even if countries follow through on their current pledges under the Paris accord, it still would leave the world on course for 3.2 degrees Celsius (5.76 Fahrenheit) degrees of warming.

In other words, the world remains dramatically off course for hitting its own goals under the Paris agreement.

The meeting in Bonn won’t fix that. But countries that a year ago feared Trump’s election would hinder the Paris agreement are determined to move it forward.

Last fall in Morocco, said Harvard University environmental economics professor Robert Stavins, “a lot of the delegations were sort of in shock.” But that shock has given way to a sort of acceptance, at least in the near term.

“What happened is that they have now absorbed the reality of this administration,” he said, “in lots of ways.”