Climate change negotiations are underway in Bonn, Germany, with participants taking small steps forward towards a comprehensive global agreement set to take effects in 2012.
During the negotiations from 4-13 June, over 2000 participants are convening in multiple groups, both formal and informal, focusing on the technical and political issues that have to be resolved with regard to mitigation and adaptation, targets and timetables, technology transfer and financing.
One of the topics participants have sparred over is bunker fuels, with disagreements emerging on how the issue should be treated.
The rapid rise in fuel costs is having a tangible impact on international trade, affecting trade in products for which freight makes up a substantial part of the final price (see related story, this issue of the BioRes). Yet, this is an area that remains largely unregulated, meaning that carbon costs are by no means incorporated into the prices.
After being reintroduced onto the agenda within the UNFCCC context in March this year (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 4 April 2008, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/08-04-04/story1.htm), bunker fuels remain controversial in Bonn. Overall, countries differ on whether bunker fuels should be addressed under the UNFCCC, or rather tackled by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). A number of developing countries, such as India, expressed concerns that scoping work by the IMO and ICAO has not sufficiently recognised the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, which is well established within the UNFCCC process.
Several side events organised in Bonn also touched on the bunker fuels issue, with ideas such as using a trading scheme or an international levy on bunker fuels, with part of the proceeds going to fund adaptation. Small and remote countries highlighted their vulnerability with regard to rising bunker fuels costs.
An update on the conclusions of these discussions, as well as other negotiating tracks, will be included in the next issue of the BioRes.
For daily updates and a summary of the climate change negotiations in Bonn, see IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin at http://www.iisd.ca/climate/sb28/
ICTSD reporting.