Durban Climate Action Conference
John woke me this morning with the news that there had been a milestone agreement negotiated out of the Durban Climate Conference that had been agreed to by China the United States and India for the first time. Breaking news can sometimes be horrific so it was a great start to the day to have this excellent news when the lead-up on the Climate Conference was looking very gloomy like it would be the end of Kyoto-type climate accords and nothing on-going negotiated.
Since this morning more news has trickled in.
The Australian has a front page article. The Courier Mail only accords it 4 paragraphs on page 17. They clearly don’t expect Queenslanders to have any interest in the biggest challenge to our futures.
We’ve had an email through that screams it is not enough.
Anyway I’ll read you out a reasonable news summary from the Internet and the email to give you a feel for what is happening and you can make up your own minds.
“The world’s major greenhouse gas emitters have agreed on a road map that would lead to a global climate change deal to be reached by 2015 but would not take effect until the next decade.
Two weeks of mostly fractured UN climate talks in Durban South Africa were salvaged at 5am on Sunday with China the United States and India for the first time agreeing to make commitments to combat global warming uner an “outcome with legal force”.
While some delegates were uncertain about whether that would translate into a binding treaty Australian Clomate Change Minister Greg Combet called the deal a “massively historic step that has not been achieved before”.
“Certainly in our view it means we are negotiating a legally binding agreement that would bind all developing and developed countries. One thing is absolutely clear nobody can sustain an argument that Australia is out there alone in the world tackling climate change. Every single country in the world has committed to an agreement to take effect from 2020.”
Grenadian ambassador Dessima Williams representing a coalition of 42 island nations considered most threatened by climate change agreed. “Historic is the work. The idea that we got everybody to agree to take some form of legal commitment is a major outcome.”
The last-minute deal was attacked by some environmentalists who said it failed to deliver rapid emissions cuts needed to limit warming to two degrees.
The Durban deal includes a second round for the Kyoto Protocol – the world’s only binding climate change treaty covering developed countries. The initial stage of the protocol lapses next year. But it is expected only the 27-nation European Union and some small allies responsible for about 17% of emissions will make binding commitments under the next stage starting in 2013.
Mr Combet confirmed that Australia would NOT sign up to another binding target until all major emitters also signed on to a legally binding treaty.
The Durban conference set up governance rules for a green climate fund to help the most vulnerable countries and measures aimed at protecting forests and broadening global markets.
Australian Greens deputy leader Christine Milne said the conference failed the climate and accused Australian negotiators of playing a negative role by blocking text on a more ambitious agreement.
Here is what Oxfam says:
An outcome from the Durban COP17
So what was the outcome of two-weeks of UN climate negotiations in Durban? In short they went well beyond their scheduled closing time but in those final hours they did manage to put together an agreement.
Final agreement was only reached on the bare minimum required with for instance a Green Climate Fund being set up but without any sources of funding. The plan also preserves a narrow pathway to avoid a 4°C global warming scenario and gets a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol but without key nations joining up.
Governments must now bank the pennies won in Durban and immediately turn their attention to raising the ambition of their emission reduction targets and filling the Green Climate Fund.
If action is not taken global food prices could more than double within the next two decades up to half of which would be attributable to climate change.
OK and here are some extracts from the emails:
When you say >>the forces of denial and negativism are even stronger in the US<< we should never overlook that the denial and negativism are largely a product of an orchestrated campaign by large powerful rich interest groups whose short-term profits and dividends are threatened playing on those sectors of the public that are (a) highly risk averse because of their economic situation (high debt low wages uncertain or no employment) and/or (b) poorly educated at least with regard to being able to logically and critically analyse issues and media content. Has Australia "done a good job domestically on the issue of climate change"? They have introduced the minimum possible in terms of carbon emission fees (and only under duress) again with ridiculous compensation to industry and exemptions that will significantly undermine its effectiveness in changing technology and have not been able to explain it to the electorate in any way that makes it acceptable. They have maintained subsidies to the coal mining industry and so far have not retired any coal-fired power stations. As a meteorologist concerned about climate disruption I have waited for over 15 years for the Australian government to do something about this problem. Finally in a hung parliament something has been achieved against a background of denial and negativism. So in that respect I am pleased. But yes it could be a lot better! And as for the current US government they only looked promising in regard to climate change until shortly after the election. It is unclear whether Obama was naive in making the promises he did during his campaign and only came face to face with the reality of the influence of big business and the unions on government in the US when he came to office . Regarding the US's role in Durban it certainly is intriguing to see a US government that looked so promising on dealing with climate change climbing down so far. Maybe it explains why Prime Minister Gillard's demeanour changed a lot on the day Barack Obama was here. All smiles when he arrived but quite serious and a little tense during the press conference later. Maybe he had just told her in the morning that the US was going to propose a delay in climate change action until 2020! Who knows but the change in demeanour was remarkable. And to follow it up Australia has surprised Durban delegates by not pushing harder over the past few days for serious action after having done a good job domestically on the issue. All a bit strange really. The US "democracy" is about to fail humanity again in the name of the fossil fuel industry and self interest. Subject: Worst idea ever? The UN climate talks in South Africa are in serious trouble. The United States negotiating team just proposed a delay on global climate action until 2020 -- a potential death sentence for the people at the front lines of the climate crisis. www.350.org/durban Dear friends around the world What if someone told you we should abandon all hope for global climate action until 2020? Well that's exactly the proposal that the United States and other countries are pushing at the UN Climate Talks taking place this week in Durban South Africa. The 2020 delay might well be the worst idea ever. Waiting nine years for climate action isn't just a delay it’s a death sentence for communities on the front lines of the climate crisis -- and it could slam the door on ever getting carbon pollution levels below the safe upper limit of 350 parts per million. Our team of 350.org activists in Durban will be working with our partners at Avaaz and allies from around the world to isolate climate action delayers like the USA build support for the African nations that are fighting for real climate action and push the European Union Brazil and China to stand with Africa in their efforts. In 2012 we’re going to need to do all we can to challenge the fossil fuel companies that are the real obstacles to climate progress. Breaking their stranglehold on our governments is the only way to really unlock these negotiations.