Climate Management - Solving the Problem Part 4 docx

71 Cap and Trade and Other Mitigation Strategies nations were willing to lend developing nations money but were less willing to donate. Hill remarked, “As far as we’re concerned this is the moral equivalent of having someone drive a car into your house and oering you a loan to pay for the damages.” If a multilateral policy is going to work, all countries must par- ticipate because emerging and developing economies are expected to produce 70 percent of global emissions during the next 50 years. In addition, any framework that does not include large and fast-growing economies (China, India, Brazil, and Russia) would be very costly and politically unwise. is chapter has presented several nancial and technological strat- egies to handle the mitigation of global warming. Whichever methods are used will ultimately depend on the region, available technology, available nances, and political policy. What is critical is that action be taken immediately to ght climate change in order to lower the nega- tive consequences of sea-level rise, ooding, drought, disease, and other disasters. 72 B ecause global warming is a global problem, it will take a global solution. It does not matter whether greenhouse gases are released in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, or Paris, they have the same impact on the atmosphere. us, if only a few countries make an eort to slow emissions, it will not solve the global warming problem. All countries must be involved in the solution in order to successfully solve the prob- lem. is chapter looks rst at the opinion of one of the world’s leading experts on global warming concerning the ramications of holding o on taking action. Next, it presents an overview of how international cooperation eventually evolved and the events that fueled it. e chap- ter then examines the unique role of international organizations and what they have accomplished and nally focuses on the progress of individual countries and regions. an exPerT’s warning Dr. James E. Hansen, one of the world’s foremost experts on global warming, cautions that the world has only a 10-year window of oppor- 4 The International Political Arena 73 The International Political Arena tunity le to take decisive action on global warming and still avoid catastrophe. Hansen, the longtime head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) tells governments that they must put plans in place now in order to keep CO 2 emissions under control so that tem- peratures do not increase any more than 1.8°F (1°C). In attendance at the annual Climate Change Research Conference in September 2006, Dr. Hansen said, “I think we have a very brief win- dow of opportunity to deal with climate change . . . no longer than a decade at the most. If the world continues with a business as usual sce- nario, temperatures will rise by 3.6–7.2°F (2–3°C) and we will be pro- ducing a dierent planet.” Changes he noted include the rapid melting of ice sheets, rising sea levels that would ood areas like Manhattan, prolonged droughts, deadly heat waves, powerful hurricanes in places they had never occurred before, and the likely extinction of 50 percent of the world’s species. Two major actions Hansen advocates are to increase energy e- ciency and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Hansen focused on the Arctic ecosystem because it was one of the rst areas to show the eects of global warming. “It is not too late to save the Arctic, but it requires that we begin to slow carbon dioxide emissions this decade.” Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, says, “e latest ndings are coming in line with what we expected to nd. We’re starting to see a much more coherent and rm picture occurring.” Loss of summer sea ice means less sunlight gets reected, lowering the Arctic’s albedo, and more gets absorbed, adding to the global warm- ing problem. Besides melting sea ice, it threatens Arctic wildlife. In fact, the polar bear population in Canada’s Hudson Bay has taken an espe- cially hard hit. Dr. Nick Lunn of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) determined that the polar bear population in the Western Hudson Bay region has declined 22 percent in the past 17 years, from 1,200 to less than 1,000. A report issued by the USGS in 2009 (Polar Bear Population Status in Southern Hudson Bay, Canada) voices the same conclusion. In addition, the CWS has collected overwhelming evidence that the condition of adult bears has been steadily decreasing, with the average 74 Climate management The polar regions are being hit the hardest by global warming. If corrective action is not taken this decade, the polar bear could be- come extinct. (Fotosearch) weight of females declining toward a threshold at which the chances of it being able to bear viable cubs is becoming doubtful. Dr. Lunn has concluded that the threshold may be reached, if the trends continue as they have, as soon as 2012. e primary cause for the deteriorating condition of this population of bears is the early breakup of Arctic sea ice. Bears have to go farther and work harder to nd their principal source of food—the ring seal. Because of this, when females give birth, they are much more emaci- ated than normal and have a more dicult time feeding their cubs and 75 The International Political Arena giving them proper nutrition. As a result, more cubs are not surviving to adulthood. e overall threat to the population is that the current generation of bears will not be replaced. “e Western Hudson Bay region is one of the most studied popu- lations in the world, so the data set for these bears is the most complete and accurate available. e low Arctic region they inhabit is an ecosys- tem highly vulnerable to climate change, and so it is likely that what we are seeing with this population will continue to spread throughout all circumpolar bear populations as environmental changes in the north accelerate. e polar bear, is, of course, just one aspect of a nely bal- anced and fragile ecosystem; one that is stressed and changing fast. We ignore those changes in the Arctic, to the polar bear, and all that sup- ports and depends on it, to our own peril. As goes the polar bear, we have to wonder, goes the rest of the world?” Dr. Lunn said. The evoLuTion oF inTernaTionaL CooPeraTion e space exploration era not only gave scientists a new view of the Earth and global science, but data began to be recorded in new ways. Computers and modeling soware led to new studies and discoveries, some of the most interesting ndings were the changing levels of CO 2 in the atmosphere (Keeling’s curve in 1958), climate cycles, paleocli- matology through interpretation of ice cores, and ocean/atmospheric circulation patterns. In the late 1960s, an environmental movement was gaining momen- tum worldwide, and climate change became one of the most-discussed topics. e rst signicant conference where scientists discussed cli- mate change was the Global Eects of Environmental Pollution Sympo- sium held in Dallas, Texas, in 1968. en, in 1970, a monthlong Study of Critical Environmental Problems (SCEP) at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology (MIT) was held. At this symposium, nearly all of the attendees were from the United States, and they felt the need for better international representation. is led to a second gathering in which 14 nations met in Stockholm in 1971, where they discussed climate change—a Study of Man’s Impact on Climate (SMIC). Each attendee returned home with a dire message to their nation: Rapidly melting ice and rapid climate change could occur in the next 76 Climate management 100 years because of human activity. e recommendation of the scien- tists was to create a major international program to monitor the envi- ronment. From this recommendation, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was formed. At this point, researching climate and gathering data had ocially become one of the UN’s environmental responsibilities. One of the milestones at the time was that the scientists involved pointed out that “the rate and degree of future warming could be profoundly aected by government policies.” ey called on governments to consider positive actions to prevent future warming. is was the tipping point where climate science shied from a merely scientic issue to a political issue. As a result, in 1986, a small committee of experts, the Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases (AGGG), was formed. is spurred international, national, and regional conferences, which further promoted research and scientic collaboration. e result in the 1980s was interesting. Studies, research, and conferences con- ducted by organizations such as the U.S. National Academy of Sciences gained momentum among climate scientists. According to the science writer Jonathan Weiner, “By the second half of the 1980s, many experts were frantic to persuade the world of what was about to happen. Yet they could not aord to sound frantic, or they would lose credibility.” One of their big fears was that any push for policy changes would set the scientists against potent economic and political forces and also against some colleagues who vehemently denied the likelihood of global warming. e scientic arguments became entangled with emotions. What was called for was more proof—more concrete data. So the scientists went back to work. New research concepts were developed. Scientists began looking at the issue as a climate system, using the input of all related scientic elds (geophysics, chemistry, biology, etc.). By looking at everything together, computer models could be developed to begin understanding how global warming worked and therefore how it could be prevented. In 1982, through scientic work conducted by the UNEP, the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was held, and 20 nations signed the document created at the convention. When the ozone hole was discovered over Antarctica and shocked the world, 77 The International Political Arena it led to the 1987 Montreal Protocol of the Vienna Convention, where governments formally pledged to restrict emissions of specic ozone- damaging chemicals. e Montreal Protocol has had great success in reducing emissions of Chlorouorocarbons (CFCs) and further damag- ing the ozone layer. It has not, however, had a signicant impact toward reducing global warming. e success at Montreal was followed up the next year by a World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security, also called the Toronto Conference. e conclusions drawn at this conference were that “the changes in the atmosphere due to human pollution represent a major threat to international security and are already having harmful consequences over many parts of the g l obe.” For the rst time, a group of prestigious scientists called on the world’s governments to set strict, specic targets for reducing green- house gas (GHG) emissions. ey advised that by 2005, the world should push its emissions 20 percent below the 1988 level. Observers saw this goal as a major accomplishment, if only as a marker to judge how governments responded. e Toronto Conference caught many politicians’ attention. O- cials were impressed by the warnings of prestigious climate experts. Prime Minister Margaret atcher, herself a chemist, gave global warming ocial endorsement when she described it as “a key issue” in a speech she delivered to the Royal Society in September 1988. At that time, she also increased funding for climate research. She was the rst major world leader to take a positive, strong position to do something to ght global warming. In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UNEP collaborated in creating the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Unlike earlier conferences, national academic panels, and advisory committees, the IPCC was composed mainly of people who participated not only as science experts, but as ocial representatives of their governments—people who had strong links to national oces, laboratories, meteorological oces, and scientic research agencies like NASA. Today, most of the world’s climate scientists are involved in the IPCC, and it has become a pivotal player in policy debates. Since 1988, 78 Climate management global warming has been accepted as an international issue, both scien- tically and politically. THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS An evolution of events led to the productive international coopera- tion that could eectively deal with global warming. Once interna- tional cooperation had been put in place, the creation of international organizations naturally followed. is section discusses some of those organizations. Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership e Renewable Energy and Energy Eciency Partnership (REEEP) is a worldwide public-private partnership that was originated by the United Kingdom, other business interests, and governments at the Johannes- burg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in August 2002. Its goals are to reduce GHG emissions, help developing coun- tries by improving their access to reliable, clean energy, make renewable energy and energy eciency systems (REES) more aordable, and help nations nancially who engage in energy eciency and use renewable resources. e United Kingdom’s rational for developing REEEP was an eort to correct the fact that there was nothing else in place—either policy- wise or regulatory—to promote renewable energy or energy eciency. In addition, it was felt that current limits in a country’s nances stood in the way of being able to make the transition, and economic assistance was needed. By removing these market barriers, it was hoped that more progress would be made toward achieving the long-term transforma- tion of the energy sector. REEEP relies on a bottom-up approach, where partners work together at regional, national, and then international levels to create policy, regulatory, and nancing programs to promote energy eciency. Currently, REEEP is funded by many governments, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission. e European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union of which 27 countries are members (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, 79 The International Political Arena Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). REEEP currently has nearly 50 ongoing projects covering roughly 40 countries including China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. ey work with 202 partners, 34 of whom are governments (including all the G8 countries, except Russia), countries from emerging markets and the developing world, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and civilian volunteers. REEEP relies on partners’ voluntary nancial contributions, experience, and knowledge. European Climate Change Programme e European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) was begun in June 2000 by the European Union’s European Commission. eir goal was to identify, develop, and implement all the necessary ele- ments of an EU strategy to implement the Kyoto Protocol. All EU countries’ ratications of the Kyoto Protocol were deposited on May 31, 2002. e EU decided to work as a unit to meet its Kyoto emissions tar- gets. e ECCP approaches this by using an emissions scheme known as the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). In order to achieve their legally binding commitments under Kyoto, countries have the option of either making these savings within their own coun- try or buying emissions reductions from other countries. e other countries still need to meet their Kyoto target reductions, but the use of a free market system enables the reductions to be made for the least possible cost. Most reductions are made where they can be made in the least expensive manner, and excess reductions can be sold to other countries whose cuts are prohibitively expensive. EU ETS is the largest GHG emissions trading scheme in the world. In 1996, the EU identied as their target a maximum of 3.3°F (2°C) rise in average global temperature. In order to achieve this, on Feb- ruary 7, 2007, the EU announced their plans for new legislation that required the average CO 2 emissions of vehicles produced in 2012 to exceed no more than 130 g/km. Looking ahead to the time when the 80 Climate management Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, the ECCP has identied the need to review their progress and begin creating a plan of action to implement once the Kyoto Protocol expires. To launch their “post–2012 climate policy” the EU held a conference on October 24, 2005, in Brussels. From this, the Second European Climate Change Programme was launched. e ECCP II consists of several working groups: the ECCP I review group (comprised of ve subgroups: transport, energy supply, energy demand, non–CO 2 gases, and agriculture) aviation CO 2 and cars Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology adaptation EU emissions trading schemes Some of the highlights of their work follow. In their assessment of aviation, the EU determined that it contributes to global climate change and its contribution is increasing. Even though the EU’s total GHG emissions fell by 3 percent from 1990 to 2002, emissions from inter- national aviation increased nearly 70 percent. Even though there have been signicant improvements in aircra technology and operational eciency, it has not been enough to neutralize the overall eect of avia- tion emissions, and they are likely to continue. erefore, the EU issued a directive to include aviation in the EU ETS, which was published Jan- uary 13, 2009. e intention is for the EU ETS to serve as a model for other countries considering similar national or regional schemes and to link these to the EU scheme over time. is way, the EU ETS can form the basis of a wider global action. ere is also a new proposal to reduce the CO 2 emissions from pas- senger cars. On December 19, 2007, the European Commission adopted legislation to reduce the average CO 2 emissions of new passenger cars, which account for about 12 percent of the European Union’s carbon emissions. e proposed legislation is to improve the fuel economy of cars and ensure that average emissions from the new cars do not exceed 120 g/km of CO 2 through an integrated approach. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. [...]... face the least stringent targets compared to their western counterparts Many of the eight former communist nations   Climate management that joined the EU in May 20 04 are significantly behind the rest of the Union in developing renewable energy Poland, for example, currently derives more than 90 percent of its energy for heating from coal In response to the agreement in general, however, the European... refueling They calculated that Reykjavik would need five additional refueling stations; the entire nation will need just 15 refueling stations They expect that by the end of 2007, 30 to 40 hydrogen fuel cell cars will be driving on Reykjavik roads Fuel cell cars are expected to go on  Climate management  sale to the public by 2010 The involved carmakers have promised they will keep costs down and the. .. Global Climate Change in Arlington, Virginia, said she is encouraged by such projects The PEW Center, along with many others, believe that carbon capture and storage underground in geological formations can be a significant part of the solution to climate change Investment in these technologies illustrates the magnitude of the challenge and the lengths people are willing to go in order to change the. .. percent of the respondents supported the program overall and the citizens there learned that energy-efficiency programs offer one of the best ways to reduce global warming pollutants In Australia’s Shire of Yarra Ranges, they have pledged to become carbon neutral They have identified a range of innovative measures that significantly reduce their CO2 consumption Some of the positive measures they have... also believes that the reason people tend to avoid taking action against long-term risks is related to two psychological factors: the finite pool of worry hypothesis and the single action bias The finite pool of worry hypothesis posits that people can only worry about so many issues at one time, and of the issues they worry about they are prioritized from greatest to least Generally, the greatest worries... reputable It consists   Climate management The media has the power to contribute to public education about the environment in a positive manner One highly successful way is through entertainment With good narrative and photography, a strong impression can be made to individuals, strengthening public involvement around issues such as doing their part in solving the global warming problem (Disney) of top... water The plant will save up to 44 million gallons (165 million l) of drinking water each year by providing recycled water for the city’s fields, golf courses, and parks The plant will work by purifying wastewater, using mechanical methods and minimal chemicals to produce high-quality treated water  0 Climate management London is planning to cut GHG emissions by 60 percent with the next 20 years Their... Livingstone, speaking of London’s Climate Change Action Plan, “Londoners don’t have to reduce their quality of life to tackle climate change, but we do need to change the way we live.” On November 17, 2007, in Valencia, Spain, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described climate change as the defining challenge of our age.” He also challenged the world’s two largest GHG emitters—China and the United States—to “play... this the ‘fight or flight response’— but there is no similar mechanism that alerts us to long-term dangers.” He believes that these reactions are just part of human nature “People are so preoccupied with immediate problems like jobs and health and the economy that it’s hard to pay attention to global warming, and to willingly take on another challenge The issue of how much humans contribute to the. .. (1,000 m) beneath the sea- the international Political arena floor Due to environmental concerns of leakage, the CO2 storage facility is closely monitored Several nations, supported by the European Union, have been involved in direct research and monitoring of this storage project, and they have developed prediction methods for the movement of the CO2 spanning many years into the future The resulting data . targets compared to their western counterparts. Many of the eight former communist nations 82 Climate management that joined the EU in May 20 04 are signicantly behind the rest of the Union in developing. countries have the option of either making these savings within their own coun- try or buying emissions reductions from other countries. e other countries still need to meet their Kyoto target. decreasing, with the average 74 Climate management The polar regions are being hit the hardest by global warming. If corrective action is not taken this decade, the polar bear could be- come extinct.