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United Nations Climate Change Conference
begins in Copenhagen, Denmark
The United Nations Climate Change Conference
begins in Copenhagen, Denmark starts today, Monday December 7, 2009 and
will continue until Friday, December 16, 2009. The conference being
attended by over 15,000 delegates from about 192 countries is expected to
arrive at some far reaching agreements on how to slow down global warming,
which appears to be posing serious
problems to our planet. The summit will end with a summit of leaders,
expected to be attended leaders of the developed world including President
Barrack Obama, on December 18, 2009.
Mr. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has stated
that the four essentials calling for an international agreement in
Copenhagen are:
1. How much are the industrialized countries willing to reduce their
emissions of greenhouse gases?
2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing
to do to limit the growth of their emissions?
3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing
their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be
financed?
4. How is that money going to be managed?
Mr Yvo de Boer further stated that if Copenhagen can deliver on those four
points he would be happy. He sees a need to get something signed and
agreed in Copenhagen, but he thinks it will be very difficult to get every
final, small detail of a whole new treaty done. The new climate treaty
will be replacing the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in
December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.
In the mean time, both India and China have
indicated that they will be willing to cut down on their ghg emissions.
The Chinese president Hu Jintao announced that China will set a target for
reducing the rate at which China's greenhouse gas emissions are rising.
China said it would limit what it calls “carbon intensity” by 40 to 45
percent compared to 2005 levels. China's carbon intensity reduction sounds
like an energy efficiency scheme whereby total emissions will still grow,
but the fossil fuel burned for each rise in economic growth will fall by a
"notable margin" by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. India will reduce
emissions by 20-25 per cent of the 2005 level by 2020. Other countries
that have announced cuts are: Brazil by 38-42 percent and Indonesia
by 26 percent.
Commitments by India, China and other
developing economies represent concessions to rich nations such as the US
who were demanding some kind of actions from rapidly developing countries
like India and China before taking on deep cuts themselves. The USA under
President Bush pulled out of the Kyoto because (i) implementing Kyoto will
be too expensive and will injure the American economy, and (ii) Developing
economies such as India and China who are believed to be releasing
substantial emissions to the atmosphere should also make some commitments
to reduce emissions.
The Obama administration has also said it is
prepared to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 “in the
range” of 17 percent below 2005 levels, and that the overall goal of the
U.S. is to reduce emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels in 2025, 42
percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and 83 percent below 2005 levels by
2050.
Other nations sending representatives to
Copenhagen are expected to make similar commitments.
We hope to provide you with regular updates
on the two weeks conference on this page
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