8 April 2010 | Luca Del Buono
Carbon, Climate Change, Energy, Finance/insurance, Food and agriculture, Legislation, Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America

 

During the Copenhagen summit, developed, and less developed countries struggled to reach a compromise over a several climate change issues, making it impossible to ratify a legal treaty.

At the end of the summit, the developed and developing countries both made pledges to reduce their CO2 emissions although the mechanisms were never established-instead, countries agreed that global warming should be kept in check at 2 degrees Celsius, each country should reduce their carbon footprint, and funds would be required to accomplish this.

However, the world's two largest developing nations disagreed with post-industrial world on methods for measuring and funding CO2 mitigation. While the US, EU and allies supported an independent auditing system to measure progress, India and China favour self-regulation. Many believe that in order to ensure developing nations maintain pledges is to require each nation to meet a quota of green and renewable projects.

In Bonn, this will likely be one of many issues debated. However, Consilience Energy Advisory Group Ltd, a private energy markets consultancy firm, has proposed a solution: the climate working group should take the cuts in carbon intensity undertaken by the developing countries and re-express them as a quota of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. CDMs have existed since the framework of Kyoto was established, and China and India are already familiar with the CDM process; combined, each have already hosted over a thousand CDM projects.

CDM projects allow developed nations to invest in developing nations such as India or China, making CO2 reduction cheaper for both developed and developing countries. While currently, CDM projects are not mandatory, Consilience's proposal would establish international financial incentives that would require countries to meet a CDM project quota, and to penalise countries failing to meet their Kyoto Protocol requirements. Carbon Emission Reductions (CERs) are rewarded for measurable reductions in CO2 that result of CDM projects. Rewards correspond directly to the amount of emissions projects reduce.

If a developing nation fell short of the quota, the country would have to invest money to ensure its economy grows in the greenest way possible. The UNFCC determines what constitutes a CDM project and measures its CER value.

In a press release earlier this week the CEO of Consilience, Liz Bossely stated:

"The hard bit has been done: China and India have volunteered to cut their carbon intensity. The CDM project approval process is badly in need of streamlining, but the mechanism has already made a significant contribution to cutting carbon intensity in developing countries. With the right resources it can do so much more."

It is difficult for developed and less developed nations to share identical interests, but there is no doubt that climate change will hurt every country, regardless of economic standing. Consilience's hopeful proposal would bode well for climate negotiations-the progress made in Bonn will likely serve as an indication of the progress that will be made in Mexico City.

Author: Michael Good | Climate Action

Image Provided by: Kecko | Flickr

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