Related Posts
UN Climate deal: Back to the future or stuck in neutral?
It seems to be the same old story when it comes to the prospects of a binding emissions...
Hopes for climate justice in Durban?
COP 17 updates, anyone? Anyone care about the future of the climate, planet Earth or its human and...
Copenhagen Climate Conference: Just one more day to seal the deal
The European Union is going for a reduction of 20 percent of carbon emissions by 2020 (the reference...
Expectations low for future climate change deal
In the wake of the disappointing outcome at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen last month, uncertainty...
SLOP17: Durban stinks
In 2009 you heard the trite references to Shakespeare about something being ‘rotten in the state of Denmark’...
Tip of the Day
Go grocery shopping locally to help reduce your carbon footprint
COP17 – What’s the deal?
image credit: DECCgovuk (Flickr CC)
A last minute deal at COP17, the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, managed to secure a legally binding global treaty, even amongst those most reluctant to sign on: big polluters the US, China and India.
But what does the deal entail and is it really any good?
First of all, the treaty is to be signed in 2015 and enforced in 2020 – too little too late according to environmentalists and most climate scientists. But what the hell do they know?
The climate ‘road map’ was the brainchild and goal of the European Union, who desperately tried to persuade the ‘Big Three’ to cap their emissions. The US, China and India (none of which were required to cap greenhouse gasses under the Kyoto Protocol) argued that limiting emissions would harm their economies.
From the Independent:
The fact that their soaring emissions – China’s and India’s growing by more than 9 per cent annually, America’s by 4 per cent – will now be brought into a binding reduction framework, gives some hope that the world may hold the expected rise in global temperatures under the danger threshold of 2C above pre-industrial levels.
To compensate for any developing country’s economic losses incurred by the deal, a Green Climate Fund was set up in Durban, drawing on the $100bn promised by the end of decade by rich industrialized nations.
Reactions from participating governments have been largely positive, but remember, this is a political victory, not necessarily an environmental one. Scientists and environmentalists responses have been lukewarm to negative, largely because the deal only limits warming to 4C.
Read reactions in the Guardian and in the following article:
Durban deal will not avert catastrophic climate change, say scientists
Tags: China, climate, COP17, deal, Durban, emissions, environmentalists, India, reactions, scientists, South Africa, US
3 Comments
You can also log in to post a comment.
Other Greenfudge.org posts
Creature Feature: The Leaf-Nosed Lizard
This week’s Creature Feature takes us to the cloud forests of the Knuckles Mountains in Sri Lanka. The Leaf-Nosed Lizard, or Tennent’s Leaf-Nosed Lizard, is an endangered species that can only be found in Sri Lanka. Named for the leaf-like appendage on the tip of its nose, this lizard can grow over 8 inches in length (including the tail). Males tend to have longer appendages on their noses than the females and they are also typically greener in color. These lizards...
Waste less this month: Join GOOD’s 30-day challenge
I know we tend harp on about plastic waste and all the shocking problems it’s causing, what with those giant swirls of plastic in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. But the consequences of our consumption-driven, disposable product-filled lifestyle are catastrophic in the long run, even if they are slightly more convenient in the short term. Is the problem at the level of government policy – for example, should disposable containers be banned? Or do solutions lie at the level of...
Dark Mountain: Is the environment a sinking ship?
A few days ago I wrote a bit about the Dark Mountain Project, a sort of post-environmentalist survivalist ideology with a lot of poetry thrown in. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand DM seem appealingly realist and anti-system. Yet at the same time it's a prematurely pessimistic 'the worst case scenario has already arrived' kind of philosophy. The thing is, for the overwhelming majority of environmentalists, greens, etc. the fight is far from over. George Monbiot –...
Illegal Internet Wildlife Trading Discussions Come to a Head at CITES
Discussions on illegal wildlife trade on the internet came to a head at the recent CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) event. Nearly 200 nations convened and voted on a number of issues, ranging from banning trade of the Kaiser’s Spotted Newt, to the rejection of regulating the trade of red and pink coral, and further conservation efforts for endangered tigers. Environmental groups, such as IFAW, argue that illegal internet wildlife trading has gotten way out of control. The...
Whaling Compromise Reaches a Dead End at Florida Talks
Last week, 25 nations met in Florida to discuss ongoing whaling issues. The main focus of the meeting was a compromise that would allow Iceland, Japan and Norway to hunt whales openly (despite a 1986 ban on commercial whaling); but in turn the 3 nations would be required to greatly reduce their quotas over a 10-year period and their whaling activities would also be closely monitored by the IWC. The meeting resulted in absolutely nothing. No compromise was struck and...
New study on the state of our oceans: FUBAR
“Shocking”, “unprecedented”, “catastrophic” – some of the words being used to describe the state of the Earth’s oceans and where things are headed, in light of a new study by Ipso, the International Programme on the State of the Ocean. Factors such as overfishing, massive agricultural and chemical pollution, warming temperatures and acidification due climate change are combining to cause mass extinction in the Earth’s oceans. Marine scientists believe these factors are working in tandem to create conditions seen in previous...
You Gotta Get A Gimmick: What Companies Do To Go Green
As the song from the seminal Broadway classic “Gypsy” says, “If you want to --, you gotta get a gimmick.” Indeed, these days anyone can go green, but some do it with much pomp and flair that you can’t help but stand up and give notice. Some companies do it well, and perhaps others, not so well. Let’s check out what companies are doing these days to get a green stamp of approval. If you’ve ever thought of doing your own...
‘Eco-friendly’ household cleaners may not measure up
By now many of you have probably heard of ‘greenwashing’, the practice by which businesses or organizations present an environmentally friendly image without backing it up with concrete green credentials. BP’s green flower logo and ‘Beyond Petroleum’ slogan are blatant examples of greenwashing. Perhaps even more bewildering and maddening is the fact that the production of certain types of so-called biofuels can result in more greenhouse gas emissions and environmental destruction than that of fossil fuels. But what about actual...
Video: Rappin’ climate scientists dis skeptics
In the tradition of classic hip-hop feuds like Kool Moe Dee vs LL Cool J or Tupac vs. Biggie, a group of Australian climate scientists have made a full on dis track calling out climate skeptics, aka those why deny the scientific consensus that human activity causes global warming and climate change. True to form, the skeptics are hittin' back with some serious mackin' in the comment section of the Guardian's Environment Blog and of course on YouTube , but I guess...
ARC: British Isles could become haven for endangered European species
As many native European species face extinction, some conservation experts believe Britain to be an ideal "assisted regional colonization area" or ARC. An ARC is a bit like Noah’s Ark, in the sense that an endangered animal or plant would be moved to a non-native area in order to facilitate its survival. Some scientists believe that species that are not able to migrate in order to survive dryer, hotter climates associated with climate change could use a helping hand. Animals like...
View all articles
well you’ve got to be optimistic..Rule# 1- Never give the opponent a glimpse of hopelessness or a taste of defeat on your side….show a never ending optimism and it will give you a never ending will to survive…..
I wish I shared your optimism, Rachel. It seems like the system rewards the bad and punishes the good.
Every time there’s a topic about Copenhagen binding treaty article, as if I was reading the corniest joke, most dragging short story one could ever read….The superstars,the main characters, the starring roles were at the same time playing the role of a villain…interesting..But one thing is for sure the bad will never succeed till the enddddddddd…