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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Temperate accord on climate change

Temperate accord on climate change

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published Published on Dec 14, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 14, 2010

It would have been dismal if the low expectations for the United Nations climate change conference at Cancún had not been exceeded. This weekend’s unexpected, last-minute accord from nearly 200 countries will not save the planet. Huge obstacles remain. Nonetheless, the meeting produced the first UN-adopted pact to cut carbon emissions since Kyoto in 1997. Cancún was a success, albeit a modest one.

It is not surprising that there is no easy solution to global warming. The risk of climate change is among the most complex challenges the world faces. The difficulty of achieving international accord should not dissuade us from action, however. Taking steps to curb carbon emissions is a reasonable insurance premium against catastrophe.

Cancún’s achievement was to establish a consensus from developed and developing countries to cut carbon emissions and enshrine this promise within the UN process for the first time. A full, legally binding treaty was never on the table for this meeting. That the US participated, however, and that developing countries committed to cut emissions, is significant.

Yet ambition without substance is not enough. Rich and poor nations, particularly the US and China, have proved compromise is possible. But fleshing out the specifics of these accords will inevitably re-inflame tensions.

Delegates hailed a new, £100bn-a-year “green fund” that aims to channel money from richer to poorer nations, for example. It is right that richer nations pay more than poorer countries to combat warming – after all, developed countries produce more carbon per capita. Where this money will come from, and how it should be disbursed, is undecided, however. It would be a definitive and welcome step for these transfers to result from a market of tradeable emissions quotas that put a price on carbon. This was not discussed at Cancún, however.

Directly addressing a sticking point at Copenhagen, a new pact on monitoring and verifying emissions is positive. Again, however, the detail is lacking. The UN’s commitment to protect forests also tackles an urgent issue. But the scope of a $5bn accord is limited. And though deforestation has already slowed, degradation may occur even if more trees are not cut down.

Cancún passed the test of keeping the climate agenda on track. The next two years will now be decisive for the future of the UN process. The next US presidential election will determine whether Washington can really participate in a deal. More importantly, the provisions of the Kyoto protocols to cut emissions expire at the end of 2012. A choice must then be made: to extend these targets, agree on new ones, or abandon targets altogether.

Cautious optimism is not a comfortable place to be when weighing the future of the planet. A binding, global deal is still worth holding out for. The events of the past two weeks make this goal seem slightly less unrealistic.


The Financial Times, 13 December, 2010, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/47bf67ce-06f3-11e0-8c29-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/47bf67ce-06f3-11e0-8c29-00144feabdc0.ht


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