| update: Doha climate talks |
Still no agreement on emissions By Chris Rose
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Photo: Dave Walsh
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nce again international negotiators attending the annual United Nations climate change conference, held in Doha, Qatar from 26 November to 8 December 2012, attempted to reach a deal that would provide a pathway to reducing greenhouse gases which are threatening the world as we know it. Once again, there was some progress towards making both industrialised and developing nations agree to tackle fossil fuel emissions and keep global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Celsius but they left the heavy work of creating the crucial binding legislation for future years. In the end, 195 nations endorsed a proposal to extend the Kyoto Protocol, which includes only some developed nations, from 2013 to 2020. Countries represented at the Durban UN conference in 2011 did agree to a firm timetable to adopt a new universal climate agreement by 2015, which would see both developed and developing nations cut greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 onwards. According to a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) press release issued after the Doha conference, nations also endorsed the completion of new institutions and agreed ways and means to deliver scaled-up climate finance and technology to developing countries. Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, said it was important to swiftly implement what had been agreed to in Doha so that the world can stay below the internationally agreed maximum two degrees Celsius temperature rise. “Now, there is much work to do. Doha is another step in the right direction, but we still have a long road ahead,” Figueres said. “The UN Climate Change negotiations must now focus on the concrete ways and means to accelerate action and ambition. The world has the money and technology to stay below two degrees. After Doha, it is a matter of scale, speed, determination and sticking to the timetable.” Critics of the proposal quickly pointed out that the US and China, the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, are not part of the Kyoto Protocol and that other nations, such as Japan, Russia and
Canada, are no longer included in the extension, which now represents only about 15% of global carbon emissions. Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) strongly condemned the governments of industrialised countries for blocking action on the climate crisis at the Doha summit. Asad Rehman, an FOEI spokesman said: “The Doha deal is as empty as a desert mirage. Despite the official spin, these talks delivered nothing: no real progress on cutting greenhouse gases and only an insulting gesture at climate finance.” Despite the pessimism surrounding the talks, EWEA agreed with Figueres’ statement that solutions are already available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. EWEA has also called repeatedly for a new binding and strengthened international agreement on emissions reductions. Numerous studies over the past several years have pointed out that wind power and other renewables have the potential to help lead the world to a low- or no-carbon future later this century as well as driving a vibrant new green economy. In mid-November, a report that Greenpeace International and the Global Wind Energy Council released showed wind power could supply up to 12% of global electricity by 2020, create 1.4 million new jobs and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1.5 billion tons per year, more than five times today’s level. By 2030, the report added, wind power could provide more than 20% of global electricity supply. Rémi Gruet, EWEA’s Senior Regulatory Affairs Advisor, said the Doha discussions, from the perspective of reducing greenhouse gases, were essentially a non-event. Gruet did say that the EU made an interesting last-minute concession by agreeing to ‘revisit its [level of ambition] by at latest 2014.’ “This could mean an increase of EU GHG reduction-targets for 2020, possibly ‘in line with a reduction of at least 25 to 40% below 1990 by 2020’ as recommended by science and added into the agreement,” he said. “This could mean additional international pressure on the EU to increase its ambition or find a solution to the low price of carbon, or both. But it could also mean nothing at all, depending on your understanding of ‘revisiting’.” This year’s UN climate change conference will take place in Warsaw, Poland. ■
WIND DIRECTIONS | February 2013