According to a poll by The Economist taken during last week's virtual Global Energy Conference, just 15% of respondents think that any substantial deals on climate change will be reached at next week's COP-17 in Durban, South Africa. Brazil, on the other hand, is keeping the faith.
A signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, Brazil has its own set of national laws that bind the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in new, cleaner tech. The country's ambassador for the UN Climate Change Conference, Luis Alberto Figueiredo Machado, said that the country feels no pressure to reduce carbon emissions to meet international Kyoto agreements. They're going to meet those goals easily.
He also said that despite the U.S. Congress generally in disagreement on climate change, with politicians out of lock step with most Americans who believe climate change is a problem, Brazil believes that the U.S. will deliver on climate change. Some day.
"We are absolutely convinced that the U.S. government will do what they said in terms of reducing CO2. They are a major party in (climate change) negotiations. We are confident," he said during a press conference on Monday.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference is a political gathering that brings together representatives of the world's governments, international organizations and civil society. Some environmentally minded celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and U2 frontman Bono are allegedly attending the week-long Durban conference pow-wow starting Monday.
The discussions will seek to advance the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, which effectively expires in 2012, leaving the world with a weak, and mostly disparate set of climate change policies. An extension of the Protocol was supposed to be approved at the COP-15 in Copenhagen two years ago. If approved, countries would have committed to binding agreements to reduce CO2 emissions to keep the planet from heating by more than 2 degrees Celsius. To some, 2 degrees seems like nothing. But when it comes to weather patterns, two degrees is the difference between water freezing, or remaining liquid; its the difference between heavy rain or heavy snow.
Under Kyoto, the developed countries committed to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by varying amounts, which averaged out to a 5.2% reduction below 1990 emission levels. Incentives were given for companies to reduce their carbon footprint. The goals were to be achieved by 2012, even though the Kyoto Protocol was not ratified into law until 2005. At that point, global emissions had already skyrocketed.. The EU and some other nations, mainly Brazil, were on track last year to meet their Kyoto targets, but many others were not, especially the U.S. According to Robert Henson, author of the book "A Rough Guide To Climate Change", the U.S. and China – the world’s biggest polluters – churned out enough greenhouse gases to wipe out the reductions made by Brazil and Europe alone. China recently overtook the U.S. as the world’s biggest emitter. The only difference between the two countries is that Chinese politicians trust the science on climate change while American politicians do not.
On Monday, the World Meteorological Organization of the UN said greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change have reached record levels in the atmosphere and show no sign of receding. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide were now more prevalent in the atmosphere than at any time since the industrial revolution. The warming effect caused by greenhouse gases rose 29% since 1990 and 1.4% over the last 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2010.
Last week, the UN's climatology research group, International Panel on Climate Change, warned of more severe weather patterns as the north and south poles continue to heat up.
See: Climate Change Policies Ok, So Long As It's Tax Free--Forbes
Greenhouse Gas Levels At Record High--Reuters
Science Panel Says Get Ready For More Extreme Weather--The Associated Press
