Ecologia, Medio Ambiente y Energias Renovables en la Naturaleza

In Panama, three main items were discussed - a concrete plan concerning the disbursement of the $30 billion immediate fund through 2012; fund-raising plans for a $100-billion longer-term Green Climate Fund by 2020 for poor nations to adapt to climate impacts and develop low-carbon economies; and a strategy to ensure governments will meet their agreed goal of limiting global average temperatures under a 2-degree-Celsius rise, which include establishing a body that will receive updates on the latest climate change science and its assessments.

Top United Nations climate official Christiana Figueres said the U.N. is hoping for two main accomplishments in Durban - first, the establishment or completion of structures that will facilitate the flow of climate funds to developing nations, and, second, an agreement on how governments will move forward together to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

But the latter, especially, could be tough. Observers are lukewarm to a possibility of a legally binding treaty in Durban. Japan, Russia and Canada have explicitly said they will not submit to new carbon reduction targets when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends next year, wanting instead to see a treaty that includes both the United States and major emerging economies.

Meanwhile, both China and the United States do not want to legally commit to cut carbon emissions unless the new agreement is different from the existing design.

The Kyoto Protocol is the only legally binding treaty the world presently has to combat climate change. It expires in 2012, at the end of year after year of unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a new climate regime in annual events called Conference of Parties, the supreme body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Developing countries feel that the extension of Kyoto should be ensured. The European Union said it will commit to a second phase of Kyoto if the countries can agree on a clear roadmap that covers all major emitters.

Suggestion

Two months ago, Australia and Norway proposed a pathway to negotiate a new international legally binding agreement by 2015.

The proposal does not expect least developed countries to take on legally binding obligations, but are encouraged to develop low-carbon development strategies with international support.

The proposal suggests that parties to the convention should be required to submit additional information regarding targets and actions up to and in the Durban talks, so that a negotiation for a new treaty could go as planned.

Developed countries would be expected to be held accountable to the emissions outcome of their targets, whereas developing countries would only be bound to implement necessary actions needed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, free of penalty whatever the outcome of their emissions reduction steps after a given timeframe.

By 2015, individual and collective mitigation targets should have been achieved, paving the way for increased targets and actions by this time.

The Australia-Norway proposal stresses that raising current mitigation targets would build confidence in the international regime and allow member countries to elevate their emissions reduction ambitions.

Hope

"I am looking forward to showcasing successful public-private partnerships in Durban, many of which have benefitted the urban poor, not least in Africa," Ms. Figueres said when asked for realistic expectations for curbing greenhouse gases in the coming years.

Even as climate talks lose steam, Ms. Figueres said there are signs that the world is generally already moving toward a path that addresses emissions, and that it's not an exaggeration to say that a "new industrial revolution to shift dramatically towards a low-carbon economy" has begun.

"The renewable energy sectors of almost all countries have seen rapid growth, and there is a major trend towards energy efficiency. There is a growing understanding that going green is a motor for new jobs and that whoever invests in clean technology now will have a competitive advantage over others," she said.

"But that revolution will go faster if governments and the private sector work hand-in-hand to build climate policies that support environmentally sound business goals, and vice-versa," Ms. Figueres was quoted as saying.

Individual efforts

Meanwhile, since the Copenhagen talks in 2009 and Cancun, developed and developing countries that are accounting for 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions have worked to do their part.

The United States has a new alternative vehicle and fuel policies - the Obama administration's goal of putting 1 million electric or hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates a renewable fuel standard until 2022, keeping the volume of corn-based ethanol and biodiesel constant, while increasing the level of cellulosic ethanol.

The vehicle standards are expected to cut carbon pollution by as much as 280 million metric tons annually by 2030, equivalent to shutting down 72 coal-fired power plants.

The U.S. also maintains energy efficiency standards for its appliances through the Energy Star program, and its Environmental Protection Agency has consistently been revising carbon pollution standards for power plants.

All of these efforts are geared toward fulfilling emissions reductions of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

China, committing to reduce to greenhouse gas "intensity" by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels in 2020, has new rules for the implementation of its energy and carbon intensity targets and policies to ramp up solar energy, specifically the Golden Sun Demonstration Project.

The European Union, committing to reduce its emissions 20 to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, took carbon emissions control to the next level with its aviation directive which, starting next year, will require foreign airlines leaving and entering the region to buy carbon allowances for to offset greenhouse gases they emit. This move elicited a number of complaints from countries and international air carriers the world over. Without it, the E.U.'s aviation carbon pollution is predicted to quadruple by 2050.

Also, Australia has recently enacted a carbon law that penalizes carbon emitters 23 Australian dollars a ton.

EcoSeed - ECOticias.com