Transcript An Intro to International Climate Change Policy

EGS1003: Section on International Environmental Justice and the Climate
Change Challenge
Mary Lawhon ([email protected])
This work by Mary Lawhon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
 First World Climate Conference
 Meeting mostly of scientists
 Concludes that CO2 is the leading cause of global
warming
 Declaration urges govt to “foresee and prevent”
climate change
(Source: http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html)
 Renowned climatologist James Hansen speaks to the
US Senate
 Says greenhouse effect is happening now
 Year of global high temperatures makes the issue
more prominent
 Noted by some scientists as too extreme
(Source: http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html)
 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is
established by UNEP and WMO
 “The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses
the most recent scientific, technical and socioeconomic information produced worldwide relevant
to the understanding of climate change. It does not
conduct any research nor does it monitor climate
related data or parameters… The IPCC is an
intergovernmental body… By endorsing the IPCC
reports, governments acknowledge the authority of
their scientific content” (IPCC website)
(Source: http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml)
 General agreement on the need to reduce emissionsbut how much overall? Per country?
 Voluntary agreement for developed nations to
stabilize their greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels
by 2000
(Source: http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html)
 Where the UNFCC convention is voluntary, Kyoto sets
binding amounts
 Targets differ by country, are expressed as levels of
allowed emissions
 Debates on North/South responsibilities unable to be
resolved; deferred; a year later they are still stuck
 2001 Protocol finalized, 2004 ratified
 These are market-based mechanisms that “help
stimulate green investment and help Parties meet
their emission targets in a cost-effective way.”
(UNFCC website)
 This is very different than the “climate debt”
argument of the climate justice movement
 Joint Implementation in global North
(Source: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php)
 “allows countries that have emission units to spare emissions permitted them but not "used" - to sell this
excess capacity to countries that are over their
targets”
 Can also occur at national/regional scale to achieve
the Kyoto targets (European Union Emissions Trading
Scheme)
(Source:
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/emissions_trading/items/2731.
php)
 “Allows a country with an emission-reduction or
emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto
Protocol… to implement an emission-reduction
project in developing countries. Such projects can earn
saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits,
each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be
counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.” (UNFCC
website)
(Source:
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/clean_development_mech
anism/items/2718.php)
 Helps the GS develop sustainably
 Helps the GN achieve emissions reductions as lowest
cost
 As of March 2010, 2099 projects registered
Of 6724 projects, only178 in Africa
Lowest per capita in the world
 Concerns with process: who is included in the
discussions
 Further non-binding commitments
 What next? Kyoto runs out in 2012
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1995 – COP 1, The Berlin Mandate
1996 – COP 2, Geneva, Switzerland
1997 – COP 3, The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change
1998 – COP 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1999 – COP 5, Bonn, Germany
2000 – COP 6, The Hague, Netherlands
2001 – COP 6 Bonn, Germany
2001 – COP 7, Marrakech, Morocco
2002 – COP 8, New Delhi, India
2003 – COP 9, Milan, Italy
2004 – COP 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2005 – COP 11/MOP 1, Montreal, Canada
2006 – COP 12/MOP 2, Nairobi, Kenya
2007 – COP 13/MOP 3, Bali, Indonesia
2008 – COP 14/MOP 4, Poznań, Poland
2009 – COP 15/MOP 5, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010 – COP 16/MOP 6, Cancún, Mexico
2011 – COP 17/MOP 7, Durban, South Africa
2012 – COP 18/MOP 8
http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html
http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/emissions_trading/items/2731.php
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/clean_development_mechanism/items/2718.php
All web links were checked in November 2011
11/11/14