By Pastor Dean Simpson, for the Chippewa Valley Post
Editor’s Note: Rev. Dean Simpson is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church and chairs a newly formed Eco-spirituality Working Group whose membership includes several other clergy, UW-Eau Claire science faculty members, JONAH members working on “environmental justice” issues and other community members. The group is working to convene community conversations focused on the intersection of faith/spiritual values and community action on global climate challenges.
Pastor Simpson is providing summaries of the most important developments at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, which began on Nov. 30 and will run until Friday (Dec. 11) with a goal of reaching a legally binding and universal agreement on climate change. Additional summaries will appear regularly in this space. To see previous reports, click here.
Highlights from the Paris Climate Summit (COP21): Days 7 & 8 (Dec. 7-8)
On Sunday (Dec. 6), more than 700,000 people took part in global climate marches around the world. Although the main march in Paris was forbidden by authorities (fearful of a terrorist incident) 720,000 marched in 2,300 events in 175 countries. They were demonstrating to demand action on climate change from their governments. Ban Ki-moon early Monday morning urged world leaders to listen to the voices of those who marched.
From The Guardian: Australia’s Lenore Taylor: on what nations’ climate pledges mean:
“Even though the mood was optimistic and the words were full of purpose, the attention of the 40,000 assembled officials and media drifted a bit when each leader got down to the details of exactly what their country was actually doing – even at the beginning when there were still plenty of them watching. And that’s the danger.
“The pledges made so far will still result in global warming of at least 2.7 degrees, even if they are all met – much better than the 5°C rise we might expect without action but still short of the 2°C goal. Experience suggests there is a very big “if”, and negotiators have virtually given up on the idea that the pledges should be legally binding. Shirkers will face no real sanction, other than international opprobrium. And that means a system to check and report what each country does is critical.
“But the rules for monitoring remain unfinished. The plans to regularly review and ‘ratchet’ up the pledges to contain global warming to 2°C or lower are not finalized either and will be critical. Developing countries argue they still need more finance. Those details matter.”
Speeches on Monday:
- French President Francois Hollande told delegates the future of the world depends on the Paris climate deal. He said France would not choose between fighting terrorism and global warming.
- Ban Ki-moon, UN General Secretary, told leaders that the Paris climate summit could not afford indecision or half-measures.
- UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said, “Never before has a responsibility so great been in the hands of so few.”
- Prince Charles told delegates that climate change is the world’s great threat and leaders must act now.
The Guardian’s John Vidal posted five reasons to be fearful and cheerful about climate talks:
Reasons to be cheerful:
- The world really wants a strong deal.
- A green economy makes financial sense.
- Nations are ready to commit to real change.
- Very little can go wrong; this conference is set up for an agreement.
- No country will want to be identified as the one that stopped a deal.
Reasons to be fearful:
- Countries may not make the necessary compromises, in spite of rhetoric.
- It’s already failed – all commitments will only hold temps to a 2.7°C rise – not enough, especially for nations that want only a 1.5°C rise who will call this a failure.
- Who will bear the biggest burden? Nations (so far) do not agree, and a clash over this question is inevitable.
- Where’s the money? $1 trillion in renewable energy technologies is needed, and financing is uncertain.
- We all want a deal, but not at any price – and leaders delude themselves if they think reducing carbon emissions is a high priority for everyone. There are many forces that can derail the Paris agreements.
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The following summary of developments on Tuesday (Dec. 8) at the Paris Climate Change talks (COP21) is from “Carbon Brief,” a British-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. See www.carbonbrief.org.
Announced Tuesday at the Paris conference: “Period of Soaring Emissions May Be Ending”. News of only a slight rise in emissions world-wide in 2014 and a projected slight decline next year were announced today at the Paris conference by the Global Carbon Project, a collaboration that studies emissions. The data were published simultaneously in the journal Nature Climate Change. This was good news, but experts at the Global Carbon Project warned that growth in emissions “may resume as the Chinese economy recovers from a period of slow growth and as India pursues a plan to double its burning of coal in power plants, part of a program to bring 300 million poor villagers onto the power grid.” China’s coal consumption almost tripled from 2000 to 2013, and it now consumes about half the coal used worldwide. 2014 was the hottest year in recorded history, but 2015 is almost certain to exceed it.
Despite differences, (there still are 939 bracketed texts highlighting disagreements yet to be resolved) optimism is high as climate talks enter the last lap: Conference organizers remain optimistic that a long-sought deal will be hammered out, despite little progress on the main obstacle: finance. Richer countries are already committed to providing $100 billion a year by 2020; in Paris, the question is how far that annual sum should rise and how or whether big emerging economies should contribute. “I see a growing consensus that $100 billion will be the floor and not the ceiling,” said Christiana Figueres, the top U.N. official in Paris. “Are we there yet, at 100 billion? No,” she said. “But we’re certainly moving close.”
Shri Prakash Javadekar, India’s Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change: “The real cost of the global energy transformation would be in the trillions, but the $100 billion is an important, symbolic gesture and one should not run away from it.”
The heavy-lifting in Paris will now be handled by senior ministers with the political clout to make concessions.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry: “We need to have an agreement somewhat in shape by Thursday if we’re going to meet the needs of Friday, and I think everybody wants to try to get this done.”
Reto Knutti, Institute of Atmosphere and Climate Science, Zürich, Switzerland: How quickly are we going to address the problem? No matter what target you choose, greenhouse gas emissions must eventually go to zero if you want to stop temperatures from rising. The longer we wait, the more drastic the change will be. We’ve seen what 1 degree Celsius of warming does (we’re nearly there). We’re almost certain to see what 2 degrees looks like, no matter what goal is set in France. Whatever number negotiators choose, it won’t mean much unless they also take the necessary steps to get us there, and the pledges they’ve made so far leave a serious gap.”