The climate summit which took place in Warsaw in mid-November 2013 was meant to pave the way for a new climate agreement to be finalised in Paris in 2015. The outcome, however, was modest, as Annegret Zimmermann reported in TW 73 (December 2013). The main success was that further negotiations are still possible. Little has happened on climate financing.
A modest success for developing countries was a mechanism agreed upon to help people cope with climate-related loss and damage. Typhoon Haiyan, which coincidently caused major destruction in the Philippines, played a significant role in pushing the issue of loss and damage higher up on the agenda. Bunker emissions were still not an issue at the summit. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are to develop a global market based system to reduce aviation emissions by 2016, and to implement it by 2020. However, there are concerns that a mere compensation system might be developed, allowing airlines to buy cheap carbon credits from developing countries instead of reducing their own emissions. According to Annegret Zimmermannn, the EU with its airspace model will have to prove its credibility and include aviation emission in its Emission Trading System with effect from 2014.
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(TW 73, December 2013)