During 07-18 of this December month, the Danish capital city Copenhagen was at the centre stage of world attention, as it hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Called the COP15, the fifteenth annual Conference of the Parties, the meet had delegates from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties to deliberate and collectively respond to the challenges facing the humanity today, due to climate change.

The conference, assumed crucial significance given the perilous climate realities and provided an opportunity to take a new pledge after the commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol on emissions targets expires in 2012.

In this concluding part of the series we attempt to capture the key outcome of this global effort, put into perspective in our earlier posts Countdown to Copenhagen Part 1 and Part 2. 

People from across the world, over 40,000 of them – politicians, diplomats, scientists, media people, activists, lobbyists, businessmen… traveled down to Copenhagen for the UN’s annual climate change summit, COP15. The 193-nation conference with 119 heads of state and government attending gave the summit its unmatched political dimension raising expectations to a feverish pitch.

War & peace: Despite the gigantic turnout, the global magnitude and high pitch summit diplomacy in the presence of heads of state the conference produced little results of worth to the disappointment of the majority concerned.

At the negotiation, the chasm widened between the participating countries as the quagmire of logic continued around the contentious debate of historical performance of the developed countries, their need to expiate for the climate debt and therefore common but differentiated responsibilities between developed and developing nations for the future.

In the process, the UNFCCC efforts, years of preparatory work in the perspective of Kyoto protocol and Bali action plan for a binding agreement, weeks of intense negotiations at the Bella Center yielded little results in this high profile conference. The COP 15 salvaged from the brink of collapse with the summit stretching well past the scheduled close produced at the end a face saving arrangement of an interim, non-binding commitment.

Fortunately, the Copenhagen outcome is not going to limit the UN process for addressing the climate issues, nor the world will be at peace on the subject of climate crisis unless the concerned parties work out a meaningful and enduring deal for action to save the humanity.

New semantics after COP15:  As it transpires, the Copenhagen accord can at best be an interim pact of contrary voices with no seeming single orchestration. It is far from enough given the enormity of the climate crisis.

The UNFCCC, COP15 closing press briefing of Dec 19 describes the Copenhagen accord as politically important. It brings together a diversity of countries under a letter of intent with the ingredients for a response to climate change.

The key points of the accord include the objective to keep the maximum temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius; the commitment to list developed country emission reduction targets and mitigation action by developing countries for 2020; USD 30 billion short-term funding for immediate action till 2012 and USD 100 billion annually by 2020 in long-term financing, as well as mechanisms to support technology transfer and forestry.

The challenge now is to turn what is agreed into something that is legally binding in Mexico one year from now.

Despite limitations, the Copenhagen accord remains as a global step to fight climate challenges in 21st century. It raises hope on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) issues and aims to operationalise soon the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund. Passed by plenary vote the new document of the accord stands to formal signature by the countries at the talks.

The deliberation to the accord also signals the new semantics in this global process:

• The presence of high powered state representatives from all over the world establishes that climate diplomacy has finally come of age. Carbon capping has moved beyond being symbolic to a contentious global issue with far reaching impacts on environment and economies.
• The emergence of BASIC countries, Brazil, South Africa, India and China is the new force in climate negotiation and with US on board, the key architects of the accord.
• Way forward, the tasks are tougher as by/for the next summit the countries will be required to negotiate upon the finer, arduous details of the Copenhagen accord framework for further binding alignment.

It would  soon be time  to reboot all energises in preparation for a successful COP16 outcome. Come December 2010, all eyes would be on Mexico City, in achieving a global legally binding climate change treaty.

Copyright ©: Consultancy Services Group

In December this year, the Danish capital city Copenhagen will be at the centre stage of world attention. The city will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference during 07-18 of the month. Called the COP15, the fifteenth annual Conference of the Parties, the meet will have delegates from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties, to deliberate and collectively respond to the challenges facing the humanity today, due to climate change.

The conference, assumes crucial significance this time as climate realities are at a perilous stage with the mankind standing at the crossroad. This is an opportunity to take a new pledge after the commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol on emissions targets expires in 2012.

In a multi part series, we attempt to capture the key essentials of this global effort.

Climate recovery: By now, there is enough scientific evidence that climate change presents grave global risks, the cost of inaction is huge and it demands an urgent world attention. Many of the ill effects of global warming have been well documented; it is the precise extent that is a matter of debate.

Regarded as one of the significant authoritative work in assessment of the effect of global warming on world economy, The Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change by economist Nicholas Stern, states:

• The scientific evidence points to increasing risks of serious, irreversible impacts from climate change associated with business-as-usual (BAU) paths for emissions.
• The benefits of strong, early action on climate change considerably outweigh the costs
  • Mitigation, taking strong action to reduce emissions must be viewed as an investment
  • The GDP bill for green investment predicted in the report is 1% of global GDP per annum, later in June 2008, estimated to 2% to account for faster than expected climate change.
• An effective response to climate change will depend on creating the conditions for international collective action.

Road to redemption: In a global issue like climate crisis, building and sustaining collective world action is an urgent challenge. The COP15 summit is therefore of monumental importance – in providing a world forum for all the UNFCCC parties to convene, deliberate and attempt to agree on a fair climate deal framework for the well being of the earth and its mankind.

Notwithstanding the deep socio-political divide between the industrialised, developed nations and the G77 grouping of developing countries, a platform of uniform shared vision of essentials has to be reached as the primary goal in the summit, followed by the finer nuances. Between the participating countries / blocs, there are vexing counter issues like; the developed nation’s climate debt to the developing world and therefore of compensation pay offs, transfer of technology and finance, on the other hand that the emerging economies are also now part of the top emitters list, will make the negotiations complex.

It however remains uppermost that this crisis needs a global, collaborative response to share challenges and every country / group / bloc ought to agree and chip in to mitigate and adapt to climate change actions. Any standoff between the blocs leading to a breakdown in talk is no option. The countries / blocs will have to be accommodative in working out an agreement in the common and larger global interest.

It is through acts of prudence and commitment, the participating countries can expect to reach global harmony for a low carbon action charter.

Let’s all unite to wish COP15 endeavours success to safeguard our earth, its fellow people and other living objects.

Copyright ©: Consultancy Services Group

In December this year, the Danish capital city Copenhagen will be at the centre stage of world attention. The city will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference during 07-18 of the month. Called the COP15, the fifteenth annual Conference of the Parties, the meet will have delegates from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties, to deliberate and collectively respond to the challenges facing the humanity today, due to climate change.

The conference, assumes crucial significance this time as climate realities are at a perilous stage with the mankind standing at the crossroad. This is an opportunity to take a new pledge after the commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol on emissions targets expires in 2012.

In a multi part series, we attempt to capture the key essentials of this global effort.

The road to COP15: From setting up of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 to Rio to Kyoto to now Copenhagen, the lead up to COP 15 stretches over two decades of UN efforts to control the adverse anthropogenic interference with the environment.

Chronologically put, the milestones are:

In June 1992, heads of state and representatives from 172 governments across the world met in Rio in Brazil in the first international agreement to limit emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) called the Earth Summit. More than 150 countries signed the climate convention at the Rio and in March 1994 the framework came into force.

In March 1995, the first annual Conference of the Parties or COP1 was held in Berlin.

During the decade of 90’s, it became increasingly apparent that given the exigencies, the UNFCCC convention by itself would not be enough towards the control of growing emissions. In 1997, in Kyoto Japan, at the COP3 for the first time, binding targets were set under the Kyoto Protocol for how much the industrialized countries should reduce their emissions by 2012. Not all signatory countries of UNFCCC ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the most notable non member being the US.

In 2005 Kyoto Protocol went into effect without the US. Under the protocol, 37 industrialized countries commit themselves to binding targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and all member countries give general commitments.

The Kyoto Protocol sets targets for emissions from 2008 to 2012. In 2007, at the COP13 in Bali, the member countries decided to work towards a new agreement for the post Kyoto years. The plan adopted, called the Bali Action Plan paves the way for COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Climate facts: The climate change is the outcome, caused by increasing concentration of GHGs resulting from indiscriminate human acts like unlimited burning of fossil fuels, coal, oil, natural gas and deforestation.

Fossil fuels are in essence biodegraded plant matter from many millions of years and contain a high percentage of carbon and hydrocarbons. By human activity, the abundance of CO2 in the fuels has been getting released at an ever increasing rate. As a consequence, the layer of GHG in the earth’s atmosphere is getting thicker making the earth warmer and leading the humanity towards climate change implications.

The rate of global warming over the last 50 years has been nearly twice that of the last 100 years. According to IPCC the global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) between the start and the end of the 20th century. The IPCC fourth assessment report AR4 2007 indicates that the temperature could further rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 °C (2.0 and 11.5 °F) during the 21st century.

According to assessment reports, to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change, the average global temperature rise should stay below 2°C (3.4°F) than it was at pre-industrial times (circa 1800). Considering that the earth has already warmed since pre-industrial times, there is that less of critical margin left for maneuvering and this urgently calls for a rapid reduction of GHG emissions. Otherwise, by inaction we face the climate change impacts – which can potentially be devastating and pervasive.

For example, authoritative sources indicate that:

• Impacts due to global warming such as unpredictable rainfall, rise in sea levels, higher sea temperatures are not favorable to human race; leading to more frequent storms, floods and droughts. Such changes could transform the physical geography of the world with people migrating to newer places on a large scale.
• With the change in monsoon system, spread of deserts and erratic supply of fresh water from the melting of mountain glaciers, hundreds of millions of people will be food and livelihood insecure. The decline in crop yield could deny them the means to produce / purchase sufficient food and be the victim of malnutrition.
• Climatic disorder will bring in the risk of increases in serious diseases such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever and polio. Diseases like malaria and dengue fever could become more widespread due to longer rainy seasons.
• The climate effects would be damaging to the biodiversity and ecosystems around us. Species and marine lives will be facing the threats of extinction due to warming, deforestation, ocean acidification.
• Economy and environment are closely interlinked. Rise in climatic disaster rate, lower harvest yield, migration of people and livestock, disease management, livelihood security, protection of ecosystems would put the global economy under significant stress in an interdependent world.

The COP15 is therefore going to take place under alarming climate facts which implicate our ecosystems, biodiversity, climate imbalance to world economy, human health etc. – in effect in an overall lurking sense of insecurity for the future human race. 

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The year 2009 is momentous. With the world going through the rough and tumble of the economic slowdown, the world G20 leaders met in April in London this year to collectively pledge to work for an inclusive, green and sustainable economy and pay serious attention to the crisis of deepening threat due to irreversible climate change, as a mainstream agenda issue.

In that sense, the celebration of Earth Day on April 22nd is more significant this time, in reaffirming our obligation to the mother earth of cleaner environment, self regulation and to show that we sincerely care.

Gaining momentum: The G20 leaders met in London in early April this year to affirm their pledge to work collectively and put momentum to the economic recovery stimulus measures. The summit communiqué identified the following focus areas for best possible necessary action:

• restore confidence, growth, and jobs
• repair the financial system to restore lending
• strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust
• fund and reform the international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones
• promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity and
• build an inclusive, green and sustainable recovery

Significantly, as part of the core commitments, the call for action to make the environment inclusive in the recovery mission been now made explicit in attempting for a sustainable economic recovery.

The G20 in the process would now be taking more constructive steps for green stimulus measures in amending the environmental scars and in working out a better global climate regime at the UN Climate Change conference, due in Copenhagen in December 2009, for a cohesive international understanding on climate change after Kyoto. Ahead of this UN summit, preparatory talks and meeting of Major Economies Forum leaders in July are to take place as part of the build up initiatives.

An unequal music: The world today is facing multiple challenges – a global recession, food and fuel inadequacy, water crisis, acute poverty, mounting ecological problems, major climate change issues, to mention a few. These challenges are interrelated and need to be tackled in a co-ordinated way.

Notwithstanding the fact that the economic recovery packages put forward by many countries amount in total to a large sum of money, the stimulus measures still need to be assessed in terms of their climate friendliness. There is a growing felt need to put climate / energy security at the core of the economic recovery measures so that the packages can be productive on the face of the climate crisis issues.

It is by truly balancing the economic and environmental acts together, we can help build a green inclusive sustainable economy.

Of importance therefore, is to help marshal opinion & support to signal that we genuinely care for our climate and it matters a great deal to all of us. Participatory, symbolic campaigns like Earth Hour, Earth Day have been at the forefront in garnering global support for urgent action on climate change.

On March 28 this year, the Earth Hour call for action for a safer living planet received an overwhelming global response. A billion people across 88 countries and including 20,000 corporates and 1,000 iconic landmarks endorsed the cause by switching lights off for an hour.

Earth Day: It is celebrated on April 22 every single year, to inspire awareness and appreciation for the earth’s environment. Started in 1970, Earth Day went global around the year 1990 in mobilizing millions of people across the countries to raise the fight for environmental issues at the world stage and help pave the path for the UN Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.By the year 2000, the movement derived on the benefit of Internet medium in garnering significant support through networking and harnessing of environment activist groups around the world.

The celebration of Earth Day continues today, in re-pledging every year our obligations to care and share to build a clean and healthy world for the future generations. It allows us to reflect as to how much been achieved so far and can be done more to protect our planet earth.

Even by way of simple self regulation, both at the individual / collective level, some of the care and share practices are easy to follow, such as:

• Be green sensitive – learn, practice and disseminate the awareness for green philosophy
• Participate and stand to encourage green legislation
• Recycle and reuse items
• Conserve water, energy, fuel by everyday action of austerity and efficient use
• Help reduce carbon emissions by cutting down in driving and using fuel efficient vehicles to commute

The fact remains, we heal ourselves by caring for our earth – let everyday be Earth Day.

Copyright ©: Consultancy Services Group

In ten days from now, on March 28 2009, citizens across the world are going to be part of the Earth Hour; a voluntary, symbolic and participatory initiative, pioneered by WWF to raise awareness for action to counter the menace of carbon footprint on the globe. On its third year, the initiative this time takes place in the backdrop of a deepening global recessionary crisis and the consequent debate whether the world can afford to undertake any green investments at this juncture.

Call the Earth Hour participation, an act of tokenism or handshake of faith, this is definitely meant to edify the movement of the fact that if the environment is ignored, it will go away. 

 On a razor’s edge: Despite the various efforts put in so far, in ordaining solutions and the bailout packages, the free fall in the world economy is far from being under check and the global recession is getting into deepening crisis. According to estimates, the magnitude of the rescue act is pegged at about $ four trillion or seven percent of the global GDP.

Against this backdrop, the world leaders of the G20 countries, representing 85% of the world’s output, will meet on April 02, 2009 in the London summit, to work out closer co-ordination measures to restore the global economy back on track for sustainable growth.

Paradoxically, as the world scrambles to reach a safer economic ground, the ecological debt of the human race is mounting. Climate change due to global warming is showing no sign of recovery, the rate of warming is in fact increasing. Reports published in 2007 by UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reflect a link between global warming and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from human activities. This growing climate crisis also needs mitigation, world attention, leadership and substantial investments.

With the economic crisis looming large, this has thus fueled the debate whether the world can afford to meaningfully address the climate change issues now; while the counter argument suggests that the green investments will stimulate the needed growth.

Amidst this seemingly never ending debate, the challenge will be to put policies on these two subjects together in a synergistic way. We are living on the edge and under great pressure of time on both the issues . Interestingly, there are low cost abatement options to reduce emissions and gain control over the runaway greenhouse effect.

Earth Hour: A WWF climate change initiative, Earth Hour began its journey as a one-city campaign in Sydney, Australia in 2007 pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald. On the last Saturday of March, over two million people switched off their lights for an hour.

This symbolic event is meant to encourage individuals and business communities to take simple steps like, turning off electrical appliances rather than keeping on standby to switching off non-essential lights so as to collectively make a difference for emissions control on an ongoing way.

In 2008, the lights out campaign achieved worldwide participation, with over 50 million people in 371 cities, across 35 countries from different continents flicking the switch off, in a signal of new awareness towards climate change. Notable world landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Rome’s Colosseum and Bangkok’s Wat Arun Rajawarahrahm Pagoda were part of the affirmative action.

By Earth Hour 2009, individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM local time to show their support for action on climate change. This year Earth Hour aims to reach out to 1 billion people in 1,000 cities.

To support the cause: The Earth Hour is a global call for every individual, every business and every community for climate action initiatives. Despite its global nature, eventually the responsibility to cast vote by switching off the lights for one hour at 8.30pm on March 28 for participation, however remains a very personal decision.

Individual tokenism can work wonders as the promoters are this time trying to make this a participatory global mandate of one billion people and to take the symbolic case to the next world leaders meet at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 to agree on a post Kyoto policy of actionability on climate initiatives.

Contribution of each world citizen as an individual and in a collective capacity therefore is of extreme importance. The corporate bodies can also amass support to the cause significantly by way of implementing the advocacy agenda.

Here is to wish all success to Earth Hour 2009 – let the green march prosper from strength to strength for a safer living planet.  

Copyright ©: Consultancy Services Group