An update from the UN conference on climate change:
Much of the developed world seems to think so. Over 1 trillion dollars are being invested to prevent a global financial crisis…yet only $172 million is being invested (combined amongst countries) in the GEF (Global Environmental Facility, the financing mechanism of the UNFCCC) to assist Least Developed Countries in adapting to and mitigating climate change.
I wish I could send a happier greeting from Poland, but our shortsightedness on this financing issue is tragic. Even the moderate projections of the effects of global warming would bring our economies to shambles in a far greater way than this financial crisis, never mind jeopardize our general welfare.
In the Substanting Body for Implementation Negotiations, the U.S. delegates were busy highlighting the successes of “better communication and energy inventories”, while representatives from Nigeria, Gambia, and the rest of the G77/China were pleading that 16 years after these financing mechanisms were created “projects are being capped at $3 million and are being delayed in their implementation…this is a shame because funding is at the core of any climate commitment”. Especially a commitment that would expect developing countries to invest in clean technologies when they are operating in a global market where commodity prices and economic strategies are dictated by Western market boards and Western financial organizations (IMF, WTO). As Tanzania put it “this is a shame because it shows a failure in the international community to invest in itself”.
Therein lies the rub of working with rich countries like the U.S., Australia, and Canada - they refuse to agree to binding emissions reductions for themselves without developing countries joining on board, yet when developing countries attempt to be proactive they balk at helping them finance.
There are two reasons that MAJOR investments to developing countries are critical and warranted: 1) these countries have the highest population growth rates and the highest urbanization rates, meaning that any failure to invest in clean technologies now will mean continued investing in the same dirty conventional energy that will have to eventually be retrofitted in the future 2) The developed world has historically emitted the vast majority of all emissions, and continue to (the US makes up 5% of the world’s population but emits 25% of the world’s greenhouse gases) meaning that we have an ecological debt to the world. As a representative from the International Alliance of Indigenous People noted, “we must never forget that global warming and the development strategies that began it are being caused by the global North”.
How can you help? Any international climate agreement signed by the U.S. has to be ratified by 2/3 of the senate. The next agreement will be signed in Copenhagen a year from now. The framework is being determined now in Poland, and the State Department will only be as progressive as they perceive their constituents to be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u41CpRhoYUI (this was our delegation’s experience last year). So write to your senators (addresses below)! Senators Mikulski and Cardin are generally friendly to climate/environmental issues - but tell them it’s time to make a legally-binding international climate agreement that will meet the recommendations of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Let them know that they’ll only keep your vote if they do! Senator Cardin is expected to attend this Conference in Poland later next week, and I am working to set up a meeting with him. Stay tuned on how that goes!
Also, if there is a positive response to this post I’ll be sure to post more.
Waiting for a sense of urgency in Poland,
John Doyle, djohn1@umbc.edu
