World Leaders Face the Challenge of Climate Change at UN Conference in Copenhagen

With the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) set to start December 7 in Copenhagen, an important global challenge faces a crucial two weeks on the international stage. At these talks, delegates from 192 nations will work to develop a new global agreement that limits and ultimately reverses the growth of man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere. While details of a legally binding agreement may be postponed to 2010 or beyond, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, has identified four essential components of a politically-binding agreement to be decided in Copenhagen:

• By how much are industrialized countries willing to reduce their GHG emissions?
• By how much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to reduce their GHG emissions?
• How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?
• How is that money going to be managed?

The European Union (EU) has already pledged to cut its GHG emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and indicated it will go further if other industrialized countries collectively target 30 percent reductions. In the last two weeks alone, momentum has grown visibly, with the United States, China and India announcing tangible reduction targets to support their commitments to a low carbon future. President Obama pledged that the United States would reduce its emissions “in the region” of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. One day later, the Chinese proposed reductions in its carbon intensity – carbon emitted per unit of economic output – by 40-45 percent over this same period. And India recently followed suit with a pledge to reduce carbon intensity 20-25 percent below 2005 levels. While China and India still reject commitments to binding emission targets, several world leaders see these latest actions as a promising step forward.

Among the many participants at the conference will be EESI’s Board Chair and former Member of Congress (D-NY) Richard L. Ottinger. Ottinger, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of Pace University School of Law, will represent EESI and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), among other groups, at the conference. He will be joined by fellow EESI Board member Jared Blum, President of Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA). Please visit our website for updated information as the conference progresses in Copenhagen.