The conference will provide an update on progress of the Cancún agreements and settle a plan for this year’s negotiations, at the COP17 summit in Durban, South Africa in November. It is hoped that delegates will lay the groundwork for a new deal on emission targets, so that an internationally binding commitment to reduce emissions can be reached before Kyoto expires next year.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said that governments have two main tasks before them in 2011. The first relates to the emission reduction targets and actions which would allow the world to stay below the maximum two degree Celsius temperature rise agreed in Cancun. Ms. Figures pointed out that the sum of national promises so far equals only around 60% of what science requires by 2020 to stay below the agreed two degrees goal.

Ms Figueres said that governments this year need to resolve fundamental issues over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, currently the worldís only existing agreement where almost all industrialised countries agreed internationally-binding commitments to reduce emissions over time. The first period of these commitments under the protocol expires at the end of 2012.

The UN Climate Change Conference in Bangkok, which ends on Friday, is being attended by around 1500 participants from 173 countries, including government delegates, representatives from business and industry, environmental organisations and research institutions.

Japan’s emission reduction target to remain despite nuclear disaster

Figueres added that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has given assurances ”that in his view the nuclear disaster does not change the Japanese target.” (to reduce emissions by 25% from 1990 levels by 2020) however, that it is ”still very much too early to know whether Japan will have to change their commitment.”

Her remarks came after Japanese government spokesman Yukio Edano earlier Monday suggested Japan may review its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex.

Via: UNFCCC | The Guardian

One of the main problems these past days in Copenhagen had to do with the differences between developed and developing countries. Developed countries want a deal that includes and, in a way, surpasses the Kyoto Protocol by making both the rich and the poor limit their greenhouse gas emissions; whereas developing nations (mainly African countries) want to extend the Kyoto Protocol (that only binds industrialized nations), and create a new deal for the poor.

Yesterday, African nations demanding more commitment toward Kyoto, boycotted the main session of climate talks, just before noon. But thanks to informal talks with the COP presidency, negotiations were resumed.

On the other hand, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon wisely suggested negotiators to get their job done, and not to leave “tough issues” to world leaders, because this might bring about a defective deal, or no deal at all.

However, many world leaders will be arriving early to try to bridge the gaps. Among them is British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who arrives in Copenhagen today. He will be meeting different chiefs of state.

This afternoon is the formal start of the intensive, high-level stage of negotiations. Ban Ki-Moon will be leading an opening ceremony at 1630 GMT.

Importantly enough, last Friday, a draft climate pact was released. It proposes to reduce emissions in at least a half by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. Though it has been accused of having some gaps, such as a lack of specificity on how much money richer nations should give poorer ones to help them fight climate change, and on when GHG emissions should peak, it has nevertheless aroused hope.

The draft focuses on the main targets for the world to achieve if it plans to avoid climate catastrophe.

Lastly, COP President Connie Hedegaard said on Saturday that “we have made considerable progress over the course of the first week”. Let’s hope we keep up this progress and that it turns out to be effective in facing the largest challenge we have ever confronted as humans.

VIA:

Reuters

COP15

• US President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and in his acceptance speech he emphasized the need for fighting climate change. He mentioned that from scientists and environmental activists to military leaders, the knowledge that “our common security hangs in the balance” is widespread.
• 100 nations are demanding more ambitious targets in terms of combating climate change. Among these, the 43-member alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is particularly concerned about the effect rising sea levels can have on them. The least developed countries (LDCs) and the AOSIS support the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees temperature rise. This would require at least a 45% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations, from 1990 levels by 2020.
• A new draft, the “Copenhagen Accord” has surfaced, prepared by China, India, South Africa and Brazil, the four major emerging economies. The draft suggests that rich countries should reduce their emissions by more than 40% compared to 1990 levels, and that the Kyoto Protocol should include a “binding” amendment. The draft was posted by French newspaper “Le Monde” in its website. The “Copenhagen Accord” aims at keeping temperatures from increasing more than two degrees compared to pre-industrial levels. An interesting proposal is that emissions reductions should be achieved “mainly through domestic measures” and not so much through paying for offsetting in other countries.

• 
• Russian president Dmitry Medvedev will attend Copenhagen, on December 17-18. The fact that Medvedev has decided to participate in the conference means that leaders from the 15 most emitting countries will attend the COP15.
• Guess which was the most searched word in Google these past days? Copenhagen. This is yet another proof that the world is turned to this potentially revolutionary event, which will affect our world, and the world we leave to future generations.
• And last but… certainly not least; we have Sweden’s promise to give 800 million euro to help developing countries in their fight against climate change.

VIA: COP15

Today starts the fifteenth meeting of the members of the UNFCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). They meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss how the world will jointly address climate change. The challenges are numerous, and so are the opportunities.

COP15 stands for Conference of the Parties, and the number 15 is there because this is the fifteenth meeting. The parties are 192, and they meet once a year to discuss the convention’s actions and developments in terms of addressing climate change.

The first COP was in Berlin in 1995.

The Danish government, being in charge of the organization of the conference, wants this COP15 to result in an ambitious global agreement, to which all countries adhere.

Many argue that this our last chance to achieve an international agreement to fight climate change, that establishes mitigation and adaptation strategies. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and the agreement hopefully approved and ratified these next two weeks will replace it and surpass it.

Yesterday, the UN chief on climate change Yvo de Boer said that: “Never in the 17 years of climate change negotiations have so many different nations made so many firm pledges together”. China, India, the US, Indonesia and others have announced their planned targets in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The amount of studies that prove that global warming is happening as a consequence of human actions keeps growing. Scientific evidence is more than enough. What we need is to show our concerns, let politicians know that we care. We need world leaders to realize the transcendence of the climate crisis, and act consequently. A legally binding treaty is possibly the only warrantee that countries will respect whatever pledges they make. Let’s hope one is achieved.

For many people, climate change is already a fact. Scientific studies are all around, showing us over and over again how we humans are so mistakenly managing natural resources that we are bringing on our own destruction. We are altering the Earth’s natural ways of keeping a balance.

Only after mid 1900s did we start to look for ways of solving our own mess. The famous Kyoto Protocol tried to make countries put into practice a set of mechanisms to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. One of these mechanisms is carbon trading, a market-based tool to limit GHG emissions.

The basic idea behind carbon trading is that emissions as a whole need to be limited. How to do that? Limit different players’ permission to emit greenhouse gases. Given that for certain industries it is harder to switch to a least emitting way of functioning, the trade factor comes along. If a certain company is having trouble reducing its GHG, it can buy some other company’s permission to emit.

This is a simplified explanation of the famous cap-and-trade scheme. First, a cap is set on the total amount of emissions that will be allowed. Then emissions allowances are distributed that sum up to the cap total. If a firm emits more GHG than what its allowance permits, it can either reduce its emissions or buy another firm’s unused credits.

And if a firm emits less GHG than what it is allowed to, it can either sell its credits or keep them for future use.

Carbon-trading can either be voluntary or mandatory. A mandatory example of emissions trading, the main one in fact, is the Kyoto Protocol, which was put into practice in 2005. It commits members of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) with industrialized or transitional economies (Annex I) to reduce their emissions 5% below levels registered in 1990, between 2008 and 2012.

Among other things, Copenhagen Conference, starting a week from now, is so important because a treaty needs to be achieved to replace Kyoto in 2012.

What do you think about carbon trading?

VIA: HowStuffWorks