Newsletter / Blog
2011-12-14 Climate change - one step closer to a legally binding deal.
The UN climate
change talks in Durban, South Africa took one step closer
to a legally binding deal, agreeing to establish the Durban Platform for
Enhanced Action to negotiate a new global agreement by 2015. This new global
agreement would have legal force and require all countries, developed and
developing [particularly fast-growing major emitters such as China] to
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This agreement will not however not come
into effect or start to be implemented until 2020.
“Although a step
in the right direction, the bottom line is that there remains a profound
mismatch between the level of action demanded by our best scientific knowledge
and the current level of ambition of the world’s governments to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions”, Melanie Heath, BirdLife’s Head of Policy, explained.
“We are currently on a path towards 3°C to 5°C of climate change in this century,
with likely disastrous consequences for many of the world’s inhabitants and
ecosystems”.
Importantly, the Durban package includes the launch of the
Green Climate Fund. It is clear that this is urgently needed to support
developing countries climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. This
fund has the potential to make a real difference – but cannot be an empty shell
and must be populated with new and additional finance that flows quickly to
those countries that need it.
Durban has kept alive and opened the political
space to negotiate a fair, ambitious and binding deal but much still needs to
be worked out. Parties must approach the negotiations from 2012 with a renewed
sense of urgency, increasing their ambition in terms of emission reductions,
and putting these pledges firmly on the table.
The Durban Platform text itself
‘notes with grave concern’ the significant gap between pledges and what is
needed to limit dangerous climate change – this concern must be translated into
binding targets and concrete action, and drive a robust work plan on enhancing
mitigation ambition in 2012.
|