Top environmental ministers arrived in Poland on Thursday for the
conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change conference, which has
been underway the last two weeks.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "Green New Deal" in his address to the assembly.
"We must re-commit ourselves to the urgency of our cause," Ban said.
"The financial crisis cannot be an excuse for inaction or for
backsliding on your commitments." He suggested that investments in
clean energy and conservation could serve as a massive stimulus to the
world’s struggling economic markets.
Ban also announced that he is considering calling a summit of world leaders in September 2009 to boost negotiations.
John Kerry, designated head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, reassured the group that "President Obama will be like night
and day compared to President Bush." Kerry also urged China to play a
larger role in combating global warming.
The Deadlock
However China, India and other developing nations have insisted
over the last two weeks that industrialized nations must take the first
step by committing to ambitious targets for emissions reductions.
Developing nations also insisted throughout the conference that more
funding most be available for adaptation and clean-energy technologies.
Much discussion was given to the manner in which these funds would be
created and dispersed.
A levy posed on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects could
put as much as $300 million a year into the UN’s Adaptation Fund by
2012. However, UN estimates have said $50 to $80 billion a year will be
needed for developing countries to fully adapt to and fight climate
change.
Included in that amount is the $1 billion requested by the Least
Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), which set this total based on an
evaluation of climate change plans submitted from 38 of the world’s
poorest countries. So Far only $172 million has been given to the fund,
primarily by Germany, Denmark, Britain and the Netherlands. The U.S.
has yet to contribute to the fund.
At one point Prime Minister Apisei Ielemia of the Pacific Island
nation of Tuvalu accused rich nations of blocking funds that would
allow his country to prepare for rising sea levels. He said they are
"burying us in red tape." He also stated that migration to New Zealand
is not an option.
Mexico Steps Up
One developing country did come forward with a commitment.
Mexico announced that with funding and soft loans from rich nations it
will institute a cap-trade-system next year and an "aspirational" goal
to cut emissions in half by 2050. Mexico is designated a "developing"
county under the Kyoto protocol, though it is considered a "richer"
country, as a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD).
South Africa is another such country that has committed to peak
its greenhouse gases emissions by 2025. But most developing countries
want to see rich nations do more before adopting caps.
However, the tiny European island nation of Malta said it wants to join
the rich nation designation, putting it on an equal footing with it’s
European Union neighbors. The country has the lowest overall emissions
of any EU country. It did not say what type of emissions target it
would be willing to pursue.
Disaster Insurance Is Key
One topic that got a lot of attention throughout the conference
was the role of disaster insurance for developing nations. The concern
is that if these countries are not prepared and insured for
disasters-which scientists say could be on the rise due to global
warming-then they will not receive funding for energy and development
projects.
The Munich Climate Insurance Initiative outlined a plan that could be
included in a new climate treaty. It estimated premiums for insuring
property and infrastructure from extreme events at $3 billion to $5
billion a year.
Carbon Capture
As of the time of this writing, it was still unclear whether the
conference would commit to funding technology to capture and store
carbon emissions underground. On Wednesday, it was announced that a
decision would be delayed until May or June of 2009. But on Thursday UN
Climate Change Secretary Yvo de Boer said environmental ministers might
still decide whether or not to include carbon capture and sequestration
(CCS) as a pilot or definitive part of the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM)-the system through which rich nations can acquire carbon offsets
by funding carbon reduction projects in developing nations.
CCS is currently untested on a commercial scale and is considered a waste of time and funding by some.
Where Things Stand
On Tuesday, de Boer said these negotiations, meant to conclude
in December 2009, will be a failure unless developed nations commit to
hard numbers for emissions reductions.
"We have to have numbers on the table from industrialized countries otherwise the other dominoes won’t fall," he said.
It’s possible, but unlikely, that top ministers will come up with such
numbers on Friday. Most likely, the world will continue to wait for
U.S. president-elect Barack Obama to take office, in the hopes that he
will commit the U.S. to significant emissions reductions, paving the
way for other developed nations to do the same. For more on this, read Thursday’s editorial by SB.com news editor, Bart King.
Or read earlier coverage of the conference.
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