Why aren’t we doing enough to stop the biggest problem facing humanity?”

[Politics]

Overview1. Who is most responsible?

2. What is a fair response to climate change?

3. What are we already doing?

4. How can we work together to solve the crisis?

Review• Greenhouse gases affect everyone

• Most emissions come from rich countries

• Impacts will most affect poor countries

• Poor countries’ energy demand is growing quickly – and they are prone to follow the same dirty development path as rich countries

• Need global coordination

1 Who is most

responsible for climate change?

Answer: Rich countries, especially the U.S.

5

Rich countries emit far more CO2 total, and per capita than poor countries

Injustice: So far, rich countries have emitted by far the most, while

experiencing the least impacts from climate change.

However, developing countries’ emissions are growing rapidly and are

projected to keep growing

There are two options for poor countries:

1. Follow the dirty development path of rich countries, and put their citizens at risk of dangerous climate change

2. OR3. Invest in a clean energy economy,

creating jobs in new industries and averting the worst impacts of climate change

2 Given rich countries’

historic responsibility for climate change, and poor countries’ need to lift their people out of poverty, how can we solve the climate crisis?”

What is a fair response to climate change?

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A fair response to climate change must…

• Bind rich countries to ambitious and deep cuts in their emissions

• Provide financial support for the poor to adapt to climate change and reduce emissions

• Safeguard the right to (just & sustainable) development

How much should countries be aiming to reduce emissions by?

• Technically, in a world above 350ppm, we must reduce emissions to zero as quickly as possible to avert the worst impacts

• AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island States currently calls for the most ambitious targets for rich countries:

• 45% by 2020• 95% by 2050

Financial support for poor countries for:

– Adaptation: reducing the vulnerability of human and natural systems to climate change

– Mitigation: reducing emissions to curb climate change

– Technology: sharing clean technology with the world

3 What are

individual countries already doing?

Developed countries are far from having committed to necessary reductions

What have the biggest emitters committed to?

U.S. • 17% below 2005 levels by 2020• 83% below 2005 levels by 2050

China• 40-45% below 2005 intensity levels

by 2020• Emissions parallel China’s GDP

Many developing countries understand the potential impacts,

and so they’re taking more ambitious steps than developed

countries (even though they didn’t cause the problem)

Countries committed to carbon neutrality:

• Bhutan• Costa Rica• Ethiopia• Maldives• Niue• Papua New Guinea• Samoa

These countries are showing incredible leadership – but they aren’t the biggest emitters.

“After all, it is not carbon we want but development, it is not coal we want but electricity, it is not oil we

want but transport.”

- President Nasheed of the Maldives

We’ve seen what we need to do. We’ve seen what we’re actually doing.

Developed countries are also far short of raising adaptation and tech transfer

funding

“In the end, cutting emissions isn’t about who does the most, but whether the total efforts are enough to avoid devastating levels of global warming – we will either sink or swim together. The pledges currently on the table mean we are sinking.”

-Al Gore

4 How can we

work together to solve the problem?

UNFCCC, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was created at the Rio Earth Summit

Get rid of Copenhagen here

RIO

International negotiations have historically taken place in the UNFCCC

“The Parties should protect the climate system for

the benefit of present and future generations of

humankind, on the basis of equity and in

accordance with their common but differentiated

responsibilities and respective capabilities.”

Climate negotiations founding text:

Climate negotiations timeline

• Visual Timeline with the following events:– 1992: Rio Earth Summit established UNFCCC– 1995: First annual UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP)– 1997: Kyoto Protocol signed at COP-3– 2005: Kyoto Protocol takes effect after Russia’s ratification– 2007: COP-13 produces the Bali Roadmap for what should happen at

the end of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period– 2009: COP-15 fails to fulfill the Bali Roadmap; results in Copenhagen

Accord– 2010-2011: Negotiations continue without major shifts or progress

– 2012: First commitment period of Kyoto Protocol to end

KYOTO PROTOCOL 1997Ratified TreatyDidn’t Ratify

Signed, Ratification PendingNo Position

Each year there is a two-week Conference of the Parties (COP) to discuss the Kyoto Protocol and negotiate the next treaty

COP 12 Montreal, Canada 2005

DECEMBER 2009

2009’s COP in Copenhagen was an important conference in which

governments were supposed to agree to new terms for a treaty as the Kyoto Protocol’s first term ends in 2012.

117 of the most vulnerable island and African nations were supporting

350ppm treaty, saying it is 'necessary for their survival’,

…yet they were not the 117 that have the power. The biggest, most

powerful emitters were not ready to really take action.

The single biggest problem country is the US, which is the largest

cumulative emitter in the world

Other key “blocking” countries include:- Russia- Canada

- Saudi Arabia & other OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum

Exporting Countries)

Instead of a treaty, we got the “Copenhagen Accord” – a political document with no binding goals

- Fossil fuel companies have too much power

- U.S. does not have the political will to make real emissions cuts

- Major developing economies like China and India are reluctant to commit to binding targets

Why can’t we agree?

5 What are some possible

solutions?

-Fight for action within each of our countries, especially the USA

-Ensure that politicians see climate action as being in their interest.

-Continue to fight for a binding global treaty

We must:

AND BE PART OF A

GROWING GLOBAL

CLIMATE MOVEMENT

More Information

• Oxfam International• Environmental Protection Agency• U.S. Department of Energy• United Nations Environment Programme• Global Environmental Facility• UNFCCC