The Road to Copenhagen: Think Globally, Act Locally

By Justin Guay, Sierra Club Global Warming and Energy Team Apprentice

In 2007, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) laid out the Bali Road Map which hoped to resolve tension over several key issues stalling a post-Kyoto international agreement on climate change. The most contentious included:

•    emission reduction targets for developed countries
•    nationally appropriate mitigation actions for developing countries
•    adaptation funding
•    REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation)—20% of world emissions come from deforestation as dead or dying trees release the CO2 that was stored inside them.

The most sincere hope of the international community and environmental advocates everywhere, is that this road will end in agreement in December of this year (2009) in Copenhagen, Denmark. These hopes however, hinge on the United States seizing global leadership by acting domestically to ensure the passage of the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) act. If Copenhagen were a game of Texas hold-em poker, the United States can now go “all-in."

Most importantly, when energy efficiency measures as well as dedicated REDD funding are included, our emissions reductions commitments reach 23% by 2020. This exceeds what the E.U. is asking for (20% by 2020), which will trigger deeper emissions cuts on their part and enable a deal. The bill also contains a host of other needed provisions, including clean technology transfer, adaptation funding, as well as international offsets provisions dedicated to avoiding deforestation.

Of course even the high hopes engendered by a new administration and new legislation that place an agreement within grasp have been met with the brutal political reality of partisan politics in the United States. The recent Senate hearings on climate legislation - which have resembled childhood arguments at some points - have been filled with a “China and India won’t play so I won’t play either” mentality. This of course completely misses the fact that China is winning the clean energy race-with $12 billion invested in 2007 in renewable energy, second only to Germany-and that we still have senators who believe global warming is not a scientific fact  **AHEM** The world is looking at you Senator Inhofe.

What’s more, these comments completely miss the fact that both China and India are much closer to reaching an agreement than many in the press are reporting. According to sources with Greenpeace China, there are very encouraging signs that the Chinese will propose some form of emissions reductions targets for Copenhagen. In addition, our own Carl Pope is reporting that India is closer to a climate deal than the overwhelming attention paid to their refusal of emissions reductions targets suggests. These reports make our own childish, finger pointing antics look all the more absurd.

These encouraging signs are supplemented by the recent agreement of the G8 and the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in L’aquila, Italy, to limit warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. In order to do so they agreed to 80% reduction targets by 2050. Additionally, the MEF accepted low carbon growth plans, which further demonstrates the shift both India and China have taken regarding emissions reductions.

Thankfully, President Obama, despite his pleas for bi-partisanship, has continued to act decisively in the international arena by requesting a report on the “green financing” proposals put forth by the Mexican and U.K. governments to be presented at the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit in September. Unveiling this “green financing” in Pittsburgh, where some of the domestic opposition to American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) act is being generated, would send a strong signal both domestically (to the climate denier lunatic fringe) and internationally that the U.S. is serious about reaching a deal in Copenhagen.

Ultimately however, these positive signs mean nothing if domestic legislation fails. The world waited eight long years for the US to take the lead on global warming. It finally has, but the forces that kept us from acting in the past, continue to threaten our future.

As we approach the Copenhagen talks, it is vital that people in the United States recognize the importance of ACES in a broader context. Now, more than ever, we  must “think globally and act locally” in order to stop  our country, and the globe, from being hi-jacked by obstructionist global warming deniers.

Comments

[cems]

There is too much focus on the emissions that a country produces. The focus should be on the emissions that a country consumes. If a person in Africa buys a car that was made in Japan, the person in Africa should be responsible for the emissions in Japan. Likewise, if a person in the USA buys products made in China, that person is responsible for the emissions in China. The focus should be shifted to responsible consumerism

[Truck Rental]

Thanks Man ! I liked the content of your article. In fact, Title "Think Globally, Act Locally" is quite impressive. We should bring it in to our practical life. It is essential steps for our life.