Developing countries such as Bhutan, which are hard hit by climate change but contribute little to it, face significant challenges in reaching a fair agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, writes Ian Duncan.
“We received a garden as our home, and we must not turn it into a wilderness for our children.” These words by Cardinal Peter Turkson summed up the appeal launched by dozens of religious leaders and “moral” thinkers at the Summit of Conscience for the Climate, a one-day gathering in Paris earlier this week aimed at mobilising action ahead of the next United Nations climate change conference (COP 21) scheduled to take place in the French capital in just over four months.
Climate talks hosted by the French government this week achieved significant progress on key issues ahead of a proposed global pact later this year, say participants.
China’s efforts to shift away from coal will be blunted by the country’s growing carbon footprint overseas, argues Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
At their June summit, G7 leaders pledged to develop long-term low-carbon strategies and phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century. They agreed on a global target for limiting the rise in average global temperatures to a maximum of 2 degrees over pre-industrial levels.
The European Commission has proposed a strategy for the Paris climate talks that includes the aim of achieving a “Paris Protocol”. According to Susanne Dröge and Oliver Geden of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, this strategy does not take into account the new global context of the negotiations. They urge the EU to drop the word “protocol”, consider how to align the international process with internal EU climate policy making, and accept that a science-based approach to climate action in the tradition of the Kyoto protocol is not viable.
In its third conclusions on climate diplomacy, published on 20 July 2015, the Council of the European Union reinforces its commitment to addressing climate change as a key foreign policy and security matter.
“Perhaps I’m a case study for what happens in the federal government when we start on a tough problem,” says Alice Hill, the senior director for resilience policy and the National Security Council and former senior counselor to the secretary of homeland security.
Integrated transboundary river basin management is necessary to secure urban water supply in the face of increasing environmental pressures. An adelphi event at the Blue Planet Forum 2015 saw a lively exchange on the benefits and challenges of international water cooperation. Lisa Kreutzmann sums up the results.
In advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris this December, many publics around the world name global climate change as a top threat, according to a new Pew Research Center survey measuring perceptions of international challenges.