Blog Posts: ACT 2015

Lawrence McDonald, Director of Communications at WRI, shares his COP20 Lima experience.

After two weeks of difficult negotiations and a nail-biting finale, delegates in Lima laid the groundwork for a successful international climate agreement in Paris next year.

What is an equitable way of taking action in the context of growing emissions and climate impacts, from water scarcity and depressed agricultural yields to severe weather events?

And how can we reduce emissions and build climate resilience while taking into account varying human development needs?

Climate change negotiations at COP 20 in Lima, Peru, have reached their mid-point and are moving into high gear. This week will be crucial as talks continue on a draft international climate agreement due to be concluded in Paris at the end of 2015.

Here are three issues to watch.

As delegates gather at COP 20 in Lima, it’s a critical moment to think about how countries can build resilience to these impacts.

Negotiators are currently at work on creating an international climate agreement by COP 21 in Paris in 2015—they have an opportunity to craft one that accelerates action on adaptation and makes life better for vulnerable people around the world.

What if an international climate change agreement could set the rules for years to come, driving greater emissions reductions, more renewable energy and energy efficiency and a shift away from fossil fuel?

A consortium of research organizations, ACT 2015, has been thinking hard about what structure, processes and rules would need to be put in place to create confidence and predictability of action under this agreement.

Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile 2000-2006 and Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana 1998 -2008, co-authored this blog post as members of the High Level Advisory Committee to the Climate Justice Dialogue. They offer three decisive reasons for immediate and substantial capitalization of the Green Climate Fund.