From Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation

UN Climate Agreement: Rich Nations Face Climate Compensation Claims
Britain’s Bill For Climate Aid Rises To £4.5 Billion

The ongoing United Nations (UN) climate negotiations in Warsaw, Poland ended with an agreement called the “Warsaw international mechanism for loss and damage (IMLD)”. “We have seen essential progress. But let us again be clear that we are witnessing ever more frequent, extreme weather events, and the poor and vulnerable are already paying the price,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC in a press statement. “Now governments, and especially developed nations, must go back to do their homework so they can put their plans on the table ahead of the Paris conference,” she added. --Neha Sethi, Live Mint/The Wall Street Journal, 24 November 2013

The last minute compromise amendment at the UN climate summit introduced by the Indian delegation confirms the firewall between rich and poor countries, i.e. the agreed Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) will remain under the UNFCCC Convention and guided by the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities. Moreover, the agreed national ‘contributions’ (whatever that means) are undefined, voluntary and not legally binding. In short, the can has been kicked into the long grass yet again while the chances for a legally binding agreement remain close to zero. --Benny Peiser, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 23 November 2013

Britain has been committed to sending an extra £1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money abroad as aid to help poorer countries tackle climate change due to a new European Union policy. As part of a new budget, EU leaders have taken the decision to give the funds to developing countries which say they suffer damage due to global warming. The money comes on top of £2.9 billion the Government has already pledged from its own aid budget to spend on climate change projects. --Richard Gray, The Sunday Telegraph, 24 November 2013

20% of the EU’s budget will go towards fighting climate change, climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard announced in Warsaw today. This equates to €180 billion on climate spending between 2014 and 2020, which will be used to reduce emissions domestically and help developing countries adapt to climate change—three times what was provided in the previous budget. Much of this will be spent on domestic projects, helping with the development of climate-smart agriculture, energy efficiency and the transport sector. --Sophie Yeo, Responding to Climate Change, 19 November 2013

Growing numbers of Tory backbenchers are now calling for the Government to withdraw from expensive climate change and carbon emission commitments. Japan’s decision to sharply reduce its carbon emission goals and Australia’s scrapping of a tax on high carbon emitters has increased the pressure. Lord Lawson of Blaby, the former Conservative chancellor and a climate change sceptic, criticised the EU for using its wider budget to provide climate aid. Douglas Carswell, Tory MP for Clacton, said the decision was unjustifiable. He said: “We’re spending money that we don’t have to solve a problem that doesn’t exist at the behest of people we didn’t elect.” --Richard Gray, The Sunday Telegraph, 24 November 2013

Most of the $27 billion in climate funding for poor countries has gone toward clean energy and energy efficiency. Only a small slice, about $5 billion, went toward helping poor countries prepare for the actual impacts of climate change, like droughts or heat waves. --Brad Plumer, The Washington Post, 18 November 2013

It is only one sentence in the coalition agreement, but it could mean the end of Germany’s green energy shift (Energiewende). The Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) want to force the renewable industry to pay for conventional back-up energy generation. --Die Zeit, 22 November 2013