All domestic, no global? Are you serious?
by: Jay Mariyappan
As country negotiators head off to the 17th Conference of Parties (“COP”) in Durban later this month there is little to suggest that a global climate change agreement can be concluded anytime soon. At the international level countries seem to have taken their ‘eyes off the ball’ – in terms of keeping average global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees – and reverted to thinking about it more in domestic and local terms only.
There is plenty of momentum at the moment, but it’s all at a local and national level: The recently announced cap-and-trade schemes in California, New Zealand and Australia, together with a forthcoming cap-and-trade scheme in South Korea are accompanied by plenty of efforts in developing countries: China recently initiated the building of a national registry as a basis for domestic emissions trading, India’s energy efficiency certificate trading scheme is live, and countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and South Africa are designing what are called nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) to reduce emissions through waste and water management, clean energy, energy efficiency and forestry management. These initiatives all have the potential at some point to be recognized under a global climate change deal which may see some linking of schemes beyond 2015.
It’s at the international and global level that climate change mitigation really counts however. The international rules have ONLY taken 20 years to negotiate and the challenge will only get harder if put off for another few years. The planet doesn’t need defeatism: Negotiators must solve the current impasse and engage in this COP with a real focus on the goal rather than a resignation that there will be a gap of a number of years between the current global pact and any future one. Significant developments in technology, know-how and financing have taken place over the last decade largely through the domestic measures and initiatives spreading to other countries through knowledge-transfer, entrepreneurial vigor and the awareness-raising of international schemes such as the CDM.
If given long term certainty and the right signals, the private sector is willing and waiting to deliver at the kind of scale which will have a real impact on global climate change and must be kept involved in international negotiations in order to contribute its significant experience, capital and know-how. In the meantime, domestic schemes with broader economic goals, such as the renewable energy certificates, feed-in tariffs, tax-credits etc., offer the kind of certainty needed for serious private investment but on their own will contribute only a little to the overall climate change goal.
According to a recent report by the EU’s Joint Research Centre[i], global CO2 emissions increased by 45% between 1990 and 2010, reaching an all-time high of 33 billion tons. If a reduction in global emissions on the scale of 50% below 1990 levels by 2050 is needed to meet the 2 degree objective, then it’s clear that globally we’re way off track. In Durban, negotiators need to shift from a starting position that suggests “well were doing a bit and we’ll do more if you do” to “we’re going to do everything we can and we’re going to help you do everything you can”.
