São Paulo – This Monday (26th) saw the beginning of the 18th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18) in Doha, Qatar, with a plea for the 194 participating companies to reach agreements preventing environmental temperature to rise by more than two degrees Celsius by the end of the century compared with pre-industrial period levels. Last Wednesday (21st), a study released by the World Bank warned that the temperature on Planet Earth should increase by an average of four degrees Celsius until 2066.
At the opening of the event, the president of the COP18 and of the Qatari Administrative Control and Transparency Agency, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, said the conference is a “golden change” for delegates to make progress with agreements and protocols that will effectively reduce emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
“Now more than ever, the issues at the heart of these negotiations are at the forefront of global debate and discourse. All seven billion people living on the planet share a single challenge: climate change,” said Attiyah in his opening address at COP18.
One of the main topics to be discussed up until the end of COP18, on December 7th, is the Kyoto Protocol extension. The protocol was signed in 1997 in Japan and set forth that from 2008 to 2012, wealthy countries were to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% compared with 1990 levels. The agreement does not include the United States, which did not ratify the protocol, nor China and other developing countries, for which no targets were set on that occasion.
The Kyoto Protocol expires on December 31st this year, so delegates in Doha will consider extending it until 2020. Proposals include setting emission reduction targets for developing countries as well.
Another item on the COP18 agenda is the drafting of a more comprehensive and stricter protocol on climate change, which may be completed only in 2015 and become effective only in 2020.
The main impediment to the progress of negotiations, however, is the fact that countries do not want to commit to cutting down emissions of pollutant gases, which detracts from economic growth, unless others also take on bold targets. One of the principles that determine the role of each nation is that of “common but differentiated responsibilities,” set forth at ECO 92, the United Nations Environmental Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, 1992.
The principle provides that rich countries must adhere to stricter rules than developing nations, because they were the first to pollute and polluted the most throughout the years, and because abiding by equal rules right now would limit the development of emerging nations. All agree that they must contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but some must contribute more than others.
Upon passing the conference’s leadership on to Al-Attiyah, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who presided over COP17 in South Africa, 2011, said the solution for cutting down emissions must be found and adopted by all countries in tandem, within the framework of the United Nations. “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk with others,” she said.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
