Climate change - where the centre leads

Jose Maria Figueres, Juan Mayr and Marina Silva
BBC Green Room 22 Sep 09;

This week sees a series of meetings that could create the right conditions for achieving a new global treaty on climate change. In the Green Room this week, three senior political figures from Latin America - Jose Maria Figueres, Juan Mayr and Marina Silva - argue that middle-income nations such as theirs are leading the way.

On 22 September, world leaders meet at the UN in New York for high-level talks on climate change - a summit followed two days later by a discussion at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh on the global financial situation.

Moving out of the current financial crisis and addressing the problem of climate change can be jointly achieved by shifting the world towards a low carbon economy.

Analysis by Lord Stern and many others has shown that the economic case for taking measures now to mitigate and adapt to climate change is overwhelming.

The meetings this month in New York and Pittsburgh should focus on this.

The importance of these meetings can hardly be overstated. Success at December's UN climate meeting in Copenhagen, where leaders will gather with the hope of reaching a new global agreement, will be determined in no small part on the progress made now.

Transition elements

The scientific evidence is clear: the world cannot support the continuation of "business as usual".

There is a growing consensus in the scientific community that the upper boundary of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels safe for our planet is 350 parts per million (ppm).

Today, as a direct result of human activities, it stands at 386 ppm. It is therefore essential that each nation shifts its economic development towards a low carbon model, one that can sustain the economy and the ecology of the planet.

Transition to a low-carbon economic system will only happen if all countries co-operate; commitment from every developed and developing country is required.

Industrialised nations, as the primary carbon emitters, will have to act urgently. Of equal importance is the need for developing nations to embark on a path of economic growth which "leap-frogs" carbon-intensive industrialisation.

New maturity

The dilemma of how to foster economic growth without worsening our climate is not a new problem.

And it is not one that is limited to the developing world. Indeed, with the exception of a few, mostly European, countries, the industrialised world has failed to cut its own emissions sufficiently to grant either moral authority or practical advantage in this discussion.

While some nations are in fact taking action - Denmark for example has raised its GDP while lowering carbon emissions and energy consumption - there are many that are only prepared to make weak commitments, which are well below the levels required.

December's UN climate summit presents a real opportunity for the negotiators from 192 nations to act in the global interest.

But if such changes prove challenging for the world's wealthiest countries, imagine the difficulty they pose for economies still reaching maturity.

In this light, it is important to note that nations such as our own are also taking action, and our determination is unshakable.

Plans have been put in place to lower emissions, forgo unsustainable practices and make a transition to new clean energy technologies.

For example, Costa Rica's climate change plan calls for a transition to carbon neutrality by 2021 - an ambitious but achievable programme.

Brazil plans to decrease emissions from deforestation - its main source of greenhouse gas emissions - by 80% before 2020, and plans to establish a target to reduce all emissions in the coming months.

Other examples include the "Long-Term Mitigation Scenario" published by South Africa in 2008, and plans by the Maldives and other island nations to achieve carbon neutrality in the mid-term.

South Korea is investing approximately 80% of its fiscal stimulus package in climate-related measures.

Those commitments are significantly higher than most of what is being proposed by developed nations.

Four elements

The challenge is straightforward: how to curb greenhouse gas emissions and sustain economic prosperity at the same time.

To secure a practical pathway to a clean energy economy - one that is measured in both higher incomes and a more stable climate - we must strike a new partnership between developed and developing countries.

There are four elements to emphasise:

* Climate change is a moral, economic and environmental imperative that cannot be evaded. Leaders who pay lip service to the science of climate change - who tacitly recognise its devastating implications and then do nothing to halt its advance - are trafficking in hypocrisy, and should be held accountable for doing so
* The developing world is not uniform - it is as diverse as the major industrialised economies. Those who have set ambitious programmes should be recognised and should benefit from additional incentives. Those who have not must be led to see that additional action will result in additional investment and opportunity
* It's time to talk dollars and cents. The developed world must follow the call of those like UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in helping to finance that process of transition. His proposal for $100 billion annually in new investments is the minimum that we should expect to secure at the G20
* Most importantly, the overwhelming scientific and economic case for striking such a partnership must be well communicated to all people in all countries. Leaders must speak to this and civil society must add its voice loudly.

And here's what needs to be said.

A new partnership supported by substantial investments and political leadership is the only way to marshal the political consensus required to make genuine progress on climate change.

It's fair for developed countries to require more clarity of commitment from developing nations - even if they are voluntary commitments.

However, partnerships run both ways, and it is equally fair for developing countries to expect developed nations to make more ambitious commitments than they have so far been prepared to do.

For the developed world, the transition to a new clean energy economy will create jobs and growth, mitigating the current recession and laying the pathway for economic and environmental recovery.

For the developing world, it is an opportunity to progress towards a sustainable economic model, avoiding climate-damaging industrialisation in the process. This will create further prospects for expansion and job growth.

The time has come for a fair, binding and ambitious climate change agreement and concrete action by all nations.

That's why this week meetings are so important. And that's the prism through which their success should be evaluated.

Jose Maria Figueres is a former President of Costa Rica, Juan Mayr is a former Environment Minister of Colombia and Marina Silva is a former Environment Minister of Brazil

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website