EurActiv Logo
 
5 septembre 2008
Breaking News:

Une feuille de route pour la politique sur le climat après 2012[en

Publié: mercredi 12 septembre 2007   
Hermann Ott, Tällberg Foundation

Dans ce rapport, Hermann Ott cherche à contribuer à la discussion générale sur le changement climatique et en particulier sur le régime post-Kyoto. Pour lui, la question de l'égalité entre le Nord et le Sud est au cœur du débat.

The June 2007 report examines the efforts that have been made to tackle climate change at global level and gives an overview of the current situation. 

He starts with the latest scientific findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - according to which, if nothing is done, the global temperature will rise by 1°C and 30-40% of species will be threatened with extinction by 2020. 

He lists the diplomatic efforts to date, including: 

  • The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that led to the Kyoto Protocol;
  • The Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate;
  • The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum;
  • The "Methane to Markets" programme;
  • The International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy.

However, the diplomatic processes to co-ordinate the international response to climate change are slow and ineffective, states the author. 

Moreover, under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries agreed to limit carbon emissions until 2012. A mandate for the post-2012 negotiations will "hopefully" be adopted at the Conference of the Parties in Bali by the end of 2007, the author states. 

He thus outlines three potential scenarios for the post-Kyoto period: 

  • In the first scenario - "business-as-usual" - nothing is done and the post-2012 negotiations fail. The world is "locked into a fossil-fuel path", greenhouse gases increase and the average global temperature increases significantly. 
  • In the second scenario - "structurally conservative" - governments and companies do act but without changing current economic and ecological structures. A slide into the first scenario is thus possible. 
  • In the third scenario - "eco-fair" - governments successfully conclude the post-2012 negotiations and industrialised countries support mitigation measures in emerging countries. Large-scale environmental disruption occurs, but a global catastrophe might have been averted. 

The larger gap to be bridged is not the disagreements between the EU and the US, but those between the industrial societies of the north and fast-growing economies of the south, concludes the author. 

He therefore recommends the implementation of three "building blocks" that might allow the deadlock in the post-2012 negotiations to be overcome: 

  • Industrialised countries must first agree on substantial reductions for the post-2012 phase; 
  • Industrialised countries must offer substantial support for mitigation in emerging countries; 
  • Industrialised countries must support the less-developed countries in adapting to climate change 

 

REMARQUE IMPORTANTE Les ´Lettres à l´éditeur´ sont des points de vue exprimés par des contributeurs extérieurs. Etant une plateforme neutre, EurActiv n'a pas vocation à prendre position sur des sujets politiques. Les documents figurant dans la section ´Lettres à l´éditeur´ n'expriment que l'opinion de leur auteur.
Lettres à l'éditeur
Limits to growth? Hush!
André Sautou, France
CCS must happen quickly
<a href="http://www.eppsa.org/en/" rel="nofollow">Patrick Clerens, Secretary General, EPPSA</a>
Advertising
Advertising