The United Nations climate talks in Warsaw (COP19) in December were never expected to deliver the fair, ambitious and binding deal we need to maintain temperature increases within the 2°C threshold or less. However, with the release of the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the tragic consequences of Typhoon Hayan, there was still the belief that this COP would represented an important moment in defining how the next agreement was going to be shaped and on what basis, as well as helping progress with increased climate finance commitments. The outcomes are far from those –very timid- objectives. Rather the contrary, the Warsaw conference undermined the trust most civil society puts in the UN process by allowing the watering down of commitments, both on emissions and on finance.

In addition, in the reports from COP19, the language has shifted from ‘emission reduction commitments’ to ‘contributions’, and has ignored or treated superficially social or equity considerations – leaving aside the importance of the ‘just transition’ commitment, which had been hard fought by the international trade union movement.

Read the ITUC report on the trade unions at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – COP 19: COP19_ITUC report_final

Read the ITUC blog: Warsaw farce provides one more reason for mobilizing on climate change