China acts as climate change talks implode Tuesday, 3 December 2013 EVEN as the climate change talks in Warsaw falls into a heap with the Australian delegation emerging as the chief naysayer and Japan cutting its emissions reduction target, China appears as driven in tackling climate change as securing oil and gas assets. By Gomati Jagadeesan From most accounts, the Warsaw conference on climate change was highly unlikely to produce any substantial results, except to lay the groundwork agreement for the crunch conference in Paris in 2015. That it did with governments agreeing to publish their emissions reductions plan by the first quarter of 2015. These national plans will likely be negotiated and come into effect from 2020. While the conference itself did not produce anything substantial, with much of the climate action goals being watered down, it was also marred by severe diplomatic acrimony. Japan drastically cut down its greenhouse gas targets citing the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Tokyo set itself the new target for 2020 at 3.8% below 2005 levels from the previous ambitious goal of 25% from 1990 levels – the baseline for the Kyoto Protocol. For its part, the Australian delegation drew huge criticism for political grandstanding over loss and damage to countries affected by climate change and held the dubious distinction of receiving four “obstruction gongs” in the first week alone. It seems the Australian intransigence was matched by the hardline stance of some developing countries and as a result no meaningful deal was struck. International politics aside, China’s latest domestic commitment to acting on climate change is both heartening and concrete. Beijing, last week became the third Chinese city to start a carbon trading scheme to curb CO2 emissions from its coal-fired power generators. It follows Shenzhen and Shanghai down the carbon trading path. China’s Guangdong province will start another scheme this December in what will be the second largest emissions trading scheme after the European ETS. Creating regional markets is part of the country’s strategy to curb its GHG emissions per unit of GDP to 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2020. The emissions trading plan in Beijing aims to cut emissions from the city’s power generators, large buildings and manufacturers. While it is not known how many actual permits were issued, it has been reported that 42% of the total emissions were covered. As expected, there have been questions raised over the efficacy of the program as many point out that enforcement mechanisms are still largely un-evolved. Analysts say it would be difficult to make sure companies will be in compliance, especially given recent corruption scandals. That said, while the early carbon trading program may seem to lack teeth, it is not for a lack of commitment. Even though China may be the largest source of carbon emissions its leadership has been consistent with the message of the need to cut emissions. That it is choosing to adopt a market based mechanism rather than a command approach, shows its willingness to engage in a global action on climate change.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 03:34:14 +0000
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