Same Old, Same Old

Yesterday I attended the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties Under the Kyoto Protocol, where different negotiating blocks released statements about their positions at COP15.  And I am sad to report that each of them said pretty much what we expected them to and did not inspire hope for a legally binding climate treaty in Copenhagen.

The G77/China said that they wanted to maintain Kyoto’s “equity” meaning that they are not in support of mandatory emissions reductions for Non Annex I countries. Similarly, the Alliance of Small Island States, and Least Developed Countries also expressed that they were not in favor of emissions reductions for Non Annex I countries and supported the extension of the Kyoto Protocol.  Nothing new about those positions.

The European Union promised to follow through on Kyoto Commitments and said that they would agree to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020 if other countries agree to similar reductions.  The Environmental Integrity Group (Switzerland, Mexico, South Korea, Liechtenstein and Monaco) and Umbrella Group (Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine, and the Russian Block) stated that they were ready to reduce emissions by 2020 but only if Non Annex I countries also had mandatory emissions reductions standards.  Also nothing groundbreaking or exciting about that.

It seems like our leaders are once again failing to address anthropogenic climate change, the largest problem our generation will ever face.  We’re still stuck in a state of US VS. THEM except now it’s DEVELOPED VS. DEVELOPING countries.  So I ask our leaders (if you can call them that) to take a cue from the youth climate movement and put real effort into breaking down barriers and tackling the challenge of global climate change.