Transcript Climate Sustainability: The Road from Rio to Copenhagen

Climate Sustainability:
The Journey from Rio to Copenhagen
Jeffrey Barber
Copenhagen Climate Exchange
3 December 2009
The journey from crisis to sustainability
Global temperatures are rising …
Source
fossil fuel
emissions
deforestation
atmospheric CO2
Sink
CO2 flux (Pg C y-1)
…with rising carbon emissions
land
ocean
Source: Global Carbon Project 2009; Le Quéré et al. 2009, Nature Geoscience
…from a range of sources
… with major impacts on our world
We are driving ourselves to the brink of collapse
Leaving this for our children to confront
Climate change
Ecosystem collapse
Economic insecurity
Trying to understand the consequences
Trying to understand the consequences
The evidence accumulates …
Ozone hole
Seveso
Love Canal
3 Mile Island
Amoco Cadiz
Chernobyl
Danube
Hanford
Bhopal
Exxon Valdez
Piper Alpha
Massey
Our Stolen Future
Baia Mare
Bangladesh arsenic
Global 2000 Rpt
…as our ecological footprint grows
We look for answers
We look for innovative solutions
… and we talk to each other
1992 IPCC
Supplementary Rpt.
1990 1st IPCC
Assessment Rpt
2001 3rd IPCC
Assessment Rpt
1995 1st IPCC
Assessment Rpt
2007 4th IPCC
Assessment Rpt
2009
COP-15
(Copenhagen)
1995
COP-1
(Berlin)
1996
COP-2
(Geneva)
1997
COP-3
(Kyoto)
1998
COP-4
(Buenos Aires)
1999
COP-5
(Bonn)
2000
COP-6
(The Hague)
2001
COP-6 bis
(Bonn)
2001
COP-7
(Marrakech)
2002
COP-8
(New Delhi)
2003
COP-9
(Milan)
2004
COP-10
(Buenos
Aires)
2005
COP-11
(Montreal)
2006
COP-12
(Nairobi)
2007
COP-13
(Bali)
2008
COP-14
(Poznan)
New
climate
treaty?
We make plans and proposals
We look for leadership
Right now, to commit to global and national
targets to reduce global emissions, to
establish a binding Treaty.
However, this is just one step in a series of
steps and actions to reduce national and
global carbon emissions.
We each have a leadership role to play in
these steps forward. This is part of our
journey to sustainability.
The major challenge is not simply to “reduce
emissions” but for us to transform the system
of production and consumption that
generates them.
Changing the system of
production and consumption
To lower GHG emissions, we need to
change the production/consumption cycle…
…in each economic sector.
Sustainable development and climate change
“Develop a domestic policy framework
that will encourage a shift to more sustainable
patterns of production and consumption.”
10 Year Framework of Programs
for Sustainable Consumption
and Production
(CSD18-19)
We only have one planet
to get this right
We need more than a climate treaty,
we need a global transformation
To build a sustainable
global economy.
Low-carbon.
Protecting the ecosystems
upon which we all
depends.
It must also be fair,
providing economic
security and improving the
quality of life for everyone.
This is the challenge of
“sustainable development.”