Late last night an agreement was brokered by the US, China, South Africa, India and Brazil. This included $10bn a year in so called ‘fast track’ financing for the next 3 years and $100bn a year by 2020 for poor countries to cope with climate change. But currently these sums will largely be subtracted from promised resources to help these same countries fight poverty.

ONE has been campaigning hard against this dangerous double counting, which undermines both sustainable international development and a good global deal on climate change. Last week we handed over a petition from more than 80,000 ONE members to the Danish government, as chair of the summit, and the US delegation. We called on them to ensure that new funding is additional to existing and promised aid flows and that development promises are kept in full.

Here’s what ONE’s Executive Director Jamie Drummond had to say on the agreement that was reached last night:

“Climate change is putting additional stress on poor countries – which is why they need additional funds to cope with it – on top of existing and promised aid levels.

Promises of aid made by the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005 must not be lost in Copenhagen. Without a clear commitment that these climate funds are additional, the dollar amounts are next to meaningless.

This debate over ‘additionality’ might seem arcane, but within the details lie billions of dollars – and very real impacts on millions of lives. Without this additionality, Copenhagen adds up to nothing.

It is not clear how a cap on 2 degrees will be achieved, but it is very clear that much more can and must be done, including harnessing the potential of African and other developing countries to be renewable energy hubs and help capture carbon through growing trees.”

ONE supports the African proposal for an interim target of US$50bn by 2015 on top of existing and promised aid to help the poorest countries – many of them in Africa – with pressing adaptation needs. The “Copenhagen Accord” mentions a High Level Panel to assess how alternative sources of funding can contribute to raising genuinely additional funds.

This urgent High Level Task Force should be convened immediately to look into alternative sources of climate finance to complement additional public funding from rich countries. These sources could include: revenue from aviation and shipping, international auctioning of emissions allowances, a financial transactions tax and the proposal to use the IMF’s own currency, known as Special Drawing Rights. The need for accountability and transparency for these new funds is also paramount.

With the agreement in Copenhagen weaker than we hoped, we now know we have much more work ahead of us.

Watch the video:

Baaba Maal, one of Africa’s most famous musicians, is attending the Copenhagen summit as the climate change ambassador for Africa Talks Climate, a ground-breaking research and communication initiative that explores the views of African citizens on climate change.

Baaba Maal performing at the event in Copenhagen last night

The long term, and the scale of the long term financing, has however been an issue with varied opinions and much debate. So this morning when the US announced its endorsement of long term financing, with a number attached to it – $100 billion per year by 2020 – the negotiations seemed to get rejuvenated. This number is also in line with the African proposal which calls for $10 billion per year in fast track funding for years 2010, 2011, and 2012; $50 billion per year by 2015; and scaling up to $100 billion per year by 2020. All of this is however, contingent on a global effort.

From Secretary Clinton’s announcement, “And today I’d like to announce that, in the context of a strong accord in which all major economies stand behind meaningful mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to their implementation, the United States is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries. We expect this funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance. This will include a significant focus on forestry and adaptation, particularly, again I repeat, for the poorest and most vulnerable among us.”

Read the full statement here:

For immediate release and posting.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release December 17, 2009
2009/T17-1

Remarks

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

December 17, 2009
Copenhagen, Denmark

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you all for coming this morning. I arrived in Copenhagen several hours ago. I’ve just had a briefing on the state of the negotiations. I’d like to give you a brief report on where we stand and then make an announcement.

First, let me thank Todd Stern and the terrific team representing the United States at this conference. Actually, they’ve been representing us ever since the beginning of the Obama Administration over this past year.

We appointed Todd Stern as our first-ever Special Envoy for Climate Change because we understood that this is one of the most urgent global challenges of our time, and it demands a global solution. Climate change threatens not only our environment, but our economy and our security — this is an undeniable and unforgiving fact.

So in addition to the robust actions that the Obama Administration has taken at home — from the historic investment in clean energy included in the Recovery Act to the new efficiency standards for cars, trucks, and appliances — we have pursued an unprecedented effort to engage partners around the world in the fight against climate change. And we produced real results.

President Obama launched the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate which brought together key developed and developing countries. He also spearheaded an agreement, first among the G20 and then the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations, to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

And after a year of diplomacy, we have come to Copenhagen ready to take the steps necessary to achieve a comprehensive and operational new agreement that will provide a foundation for long-term, sustainable economic growth. Our U.S. delegation includes not just the President of the United States, but six members of his Cabinet.

We have now reached the critical juncture in these negotiations. I understand that the talks have been difficult. I know that our team, along with many others, are working hard and around the clock to forge a deal. And we will continue doing all that we can do. But the time is at hand for all countries to reach for common ground and take an historic step that we can all be proud of.

There is a way forward based on a number of core elements: decisive national actions, an operational accord that internationalizes those actions, assistance for nations that are the most vulnerable and least prepared to meet the effects of climate change, and standards of transparency that provide credibility to the entire process. The world community should accept no less.

And the United States is ready to embrace this path.

First, we have announced our intention to cut our emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020 and ultimately in line with final climate and energy legislation. In light of the President’s goals, the expected pathway in pending legislation would extend those cuts to 30 percent by 2025, 42 percent by 2030, and more than 80 percent by 2050.

Second, we also recognize that an agreement must provide generous financial and technological support for developing countries, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable, to help them reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. That’s why we joined an effort to mobilize fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion in 2012 to support the adaptation and mitigation efforts of countries in need.

And today I’d like to announce that, in the context of a strong accord in which all major economies stand behind meaningful mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to their implementation, the United States is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries. We expect this funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance. This will include a significant focus on forestry and adaptation, particularly, again I repeat, for the poorest and most vulnerable among us.

So there should be no doubt about the commitment of the United States to reaching a successful agreement here in Copenhagen and meeting this great global challenge together.

But ultimately this must be a common effort. We all know there are real challenges that remain in the hours left to these negotiations. And it is no secret that we have lost precious time in these past days. In the time we have left here, it can no longer be about us versus them – this group of nations pitted against that group. We all face the same challenge together.

I have often quoted a Chinese proverb which says that when you are in a common boat, you have to cross the river peacefully together. Well, we are in a common boat. All of the major economies have an obligation to commit to meaningful mitigation actions and stand behind them in a transparent way. And all of us have an obligation to engage constructively and creatively toward a workable solution. We need to avoid negotiating approaches that undermine rather than advance progress toward our objective.

I am deeply concerned about the consequences for developing countries – from Bangladesh to the Maldives, from the Caribbean to West Africa and the Pacific Islands – if we cannot secure the kind of strong operational accord I’ve described today. We know what the consequences will be for the farmer in Bangladesh or the herder in Africa or the family being battered by hurricanes in Central America. Without that accord, there won’t be the kind of joint global action from all of the major economies we all want to see, and the effects in the developing world could be catastrophic. We know what will happen. Rising seas, lost farmland, drought and so much else. Without the accord, the opportunity to mobilize significant resources to assist developing countries with mitigation and adaptation will be lost.

Over the next two days, we will be discussing these issues further. This problem is not going away, even when we leave Copenhagen. But neither is our resolve. We must try to overcome the obstacles that remain. We must not only seize this moment, but raise our oars together and row in the same direction toward our common destination and destiny. And the United States is ready to do our part. Thank you.

Mugonero sits atop a hill on the western border of Rwanda, accessible only by a red dirt road riddled with bumps and hairpin switchbacks. In a small chapel, on the grounds of a missionary hospital that overlooks the Congo and sparkling Lake Kivu, 3,000 people were massacred in 1994. The Mugonero community is still struggling with how to rebuild after these brutal acts.

Manna Energy Limited — a social enterprise founded to combine the carbon finance market with innovative technologies in an economically sustainable way — is committed to partnering with Mugonero and other communities across Rwanda to help implement sustainable, environmentally sound technologies for clean energy, clean water, and economic solutions that foster health, education and gender equality.

For example, in 2007 at the Mugonero Orphanage in Rwanda, Manna Ltd. and Engineers Without Borders – USA installed a treatment system that is now providing water for 100 AIDS and genocide orphans. As Victor Monroy, the Guatemalan director of the orphanage told us, “The Children’s Village did not have clean water available on-site for the past six years. The only available option to drink pure water was to boil it. Due to the long and relatively complicated process of boiling water, quite often the children decided not to boil the water and suffered from digestive and intestinal problems. Now there is plenty of pure water available to cover all the needs of the orphanage. We are convinced that the health of all our kids will improve considerably through the precious and abundant supply of pure drinking water.”

Manna Ltd. is working to expand these programs through the benefits of the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) by generating Carbon Emission Reductions (CERs) from the offset of firewood used to provide basic water and energy needs. We hope that the Copenhagen conference will further enable small-scale projects like these in Least Developed Countries (LDCs)—something that is especially important in LDCs that adopt a policy to offset the use of firewood by replacing it with renewable energy technologies. We also hope that the US will take a leading role in supporting these activities and similar US-based efforts.

With the magnitude of the destruction that occurred in Mugonero and the rest of Rwanda, the challenge of rebuilding the country is immense. Community leaders are working everyday towards improving the quality of life for everyone. But where you might expect a feeling of helplessness, there is instead a common determination to rebuild. Manna is committed to being a part of this effort. We hope those at Copenhagen are, too.

Check out the video below to learn more about Manna Energy Limited and all that we do.

-Evan Thomas, Executive Vice President, Manna Energy Limited

Meanwhile, chances to get leaders to agree to “new and additional resources on top of existing and committed” funding are fading. There are two types of wording for additionality in the current draft [no consensus yet], one for fast track and one for long term financing.

Fast track funding (2010 – 2012) is supposed to be “new and additional”, which is to be interpreted as additional to existing ODA (funding) flows, whereas post 2012 funding is “scaled up, predictable new, additional and adequate.”

There will be a figure for 2010 – 2012 climate financing, presumably 10 billion, and an annex specifying the amounts per country. There seems to be relatively wide agreement on establishing REDD, but no intention to use carbon market mechanisms, so funding will come from the (limited) public sources. There is a general placeholder for aviation and maritime bunkers so support of a high level task force to investigate innovative financing seems sensible.

-Andreas Huebers, ONE’s German office

Throughout the fall, Oxfam conducted dozens of these community-wide climate hearings across the African continent.

In the town of Assella, Ethiopia, over ten thousand people ran, walked, even rode to a local stadium to make their voices heard.

In Hadado, Kenya, a local man told the crowd, “I have never seen the situation this bad—there is no water at all. Cattle are our livelihoods, and when they are gone we have nothing left. Our children can’t go to school because they have to spend all day looking for water for the cattle. We desperately need another borehole and more water here.”

In Cape Town, South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a packed room that “We will drown if you don’t act. We are going down the tube together. Some might go in Mercedes Benz, others in local taxis.”

The Climate Hearings are an Oxfam project, as part of the tcktcktck.org Climate Campaign. Find out more about the Oxfam hearings in Africa here (don’t miss the photo essays, too)—and read about their global hearings here.

The US delegation is ramping up after a steady stream of cabinet officials the first week. Sen. John Kerry will be delivering a major speech here on Wednesday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is making a surprise visit on Thursday. And President Obama is here on Friday. Other members of the US delegation on the ground are Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, and Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern.

Over 110 heads of state are expected for the high-level summit on Friday. Representing the Africa Group will be Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia.

You can listen to the full report here:

The good news is that this issue is moving forward in Copenhagen and there is common will by both developed and developing countries to get it operationalized. Australia, the United States, G-77, and Alliance of Small Island States have all indicated support for finalizing REDD+ in Copenhagen.

As the second week of the Copenhagen climate change talks begins, it’s a good time to think about exactly why the negotiations matter so much to Africa.

So with help from our friends at WWF we’ve put together a series of personal testimonies showing how climate change is already affecting the continent today.

From Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya the story is a similar one. Climate change is not a crisis of developing countries’ making, yet the impacts of global warming are already hitting the world’s poorest people hardest.

Augustine Yelfaanibe from Ghana reports how rainfall has become less and less reliable making it harder for farmers to plan the planting of crops, whilst Nelly Damaris Chepkoskei from Kenya explains how changes in climate have led to an increase in cases of malaria:

“..one of the effects of the higher temperatures is the increased number of mosquitoes resulting in increased incidence of malaria in this district. This started in the 1980s. Now, people are even dying from malaria, something that was virtually unheard of 20-30 years ago.”

As the negotiations continue in Copenhagen, policy makers need to ensure that the voices of those affected by climate change are heard, and that they deliver a climate deal that meets the hopes and expectations of millions of people around the world.

As Rajabu Mohammed Soselo from Tanzania says:

“My community members, my family and I are very concerned about this. I do hope that governments will do whatever can be done to stop these climatic changes. I also hope that measures will be taken to help my community cope with all the changes in our local environment.”

We hope that world leaders are listening.

Read the stories and find out what you can do.