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VOLUME 3
New Global Warming Treaty
Discussed in Bonn, Germany
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded the two-week Climate Talks in Bonn, Germany, on June 12, 2009 with progress on negotiations that reflect governments’ proposals on how to step up international climate change action. [1] The UNFCCC has 192 parties and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. During the Bonn climate talks, delegates from 183 countries discussed key draft negotiating texts, which will serve as a basis for an international climate change deal to be achieved in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. The purpose of an international climate change agreement is to tackle the threat of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions resulting in an increase to the Earth’s mean temperature. A rise in temperature may impact ecosystems and cause an increase in sea levels. Proponents of a climate change treaty believe that potentially catastrophic effects can be avoided by substantial cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, which is the basis of the agreement.
During the December 2007 UNFCCC meeting in Bali, Indonesia the “Bali Roadmap” was reached, which set a two-year deadline for a global agreement on climate change. [2] Participants pledged to complete a new climate treaty at a December 2009 meeting in Copenhagen to succeed the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol set to expire in 2012. The Bonn talks are the second in a series of five rounds of UN negotiating sessions that will be held in preparation for the Copenhagen meeting.
The Kyoto Protocol, a protocol of the UNFCCC adopted for use in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan is an international agreement intended to limit and/or reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. [3] The Kyoto Protocol established legally binding commitments for the reduction of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride), and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) produced by industrialized nations. The United States (U.S.), although a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the Protocol. [4] The signature alone is merely symbolic, as the Kyoto Protocol is non-binding on the U.S. unless ratified.
The Copenhagen treaty would succeed and expand the Kyoto Protocol, which binds 37 industrialized countries and the European Union to a reduction of the collective greenhouse emissions by 5.2 percent compared to the year 1990. [2, 4] The U.S. share of that reduction is 7 percent.
In one draft text being discussed in Bonn, developed nations have the option of cutting between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and between 50 percent and 85 percent by 2050. [5] Comparatively, Congress is currently negotiating climate change legislation, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), that includes a cap-and-trade global warming reduction plan designed to reduce ??economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent (of 2005 levels) by 2020. [6] This translates to about a 4 percent reduction from 1990 levels. The "trade" would allow companies to buy and sell pollution credits. This could mean a substantial expenditure for some companies, but others may find it to be a financial incentive to “go green.” According to the OpenCongress web site, the House Energy and Commerce Committee began markup of the bill on May 18, 2009, and it will likely be on the full House floor in June. It is expected to be significantly weakened during the legislative process by Republicans and conservative Democrats in both the Senate and the House.
According to a Los Angeles Times editorial from June 4, 2009, given the reduced levels proposed in Congress, it is almost inconceivable that the Senate would ratify an international treaty (which requires a two-thirds vote for approval) demanding vastly greater reductions. [7] The technologies that would allow the U.S. to wean itself off fossil fuels in the course of a decade are simply not yet available. Furthermore, the Los Angeles Times article points out that the Bonn talks must resolve many complex and politically sensitive issues, such as defining the responsibilities of "developing" nations like China or India. Because North America and Europe contribute a majority of the atmospheric carbon, the remaining participants in Bonn believe they should be compensated to reduce their emissions and to help them adapt to climate change.
A June 12 Bonn Press Release quoted Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, as saying “A big achievement of this meeting is that governments have made it clearer what they want to see in the Copenhagen agreed outcome. In my view, an ambitious and effective agreed outcome in Copenhagen is in sight - an outcome that provides a strong and definitive answer to the alarm raised by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.” The June 12 Bonn press release indicated that although the group needs to decide on the aggregate emission reduction target, progress was made for the treatment of land-use, land-use change, and forestry to reduce emissions (deforestation accounts for 20 percent of all greenhouse gas pollution). With all of these competing interests, the results of the efforts in Bonn will have a significant impact on future greenhouse gas reduction policy.
EHS Support is closely monitoring the global greenhouse gas reduction discussions to anticipate how greenhouse gas reduction requirements will impact your business. For more information on the status of the greenhouse gas regulations please contact Amy Bauer at amy.bauer@ehs-support.com
[1] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. June 12, 2009, Press Release “Progress Made in Negotiations for Ambitious and Effective Copenhagen Deal at Bonn UNFCC Meeting.” Retrieved on June 16, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://en.cop15.dk/files/pdf/Bonn2_UNFCCC_press_release.pdf
[2] China View. “Hard Nuts to Crack at UN Climate Talks.” Retrieved June 4, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/03/content_11481874.htm
[3] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “Kyoto Protocol.” Retrieved June 4, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
[4] Wikipedia. “Kyoto Protocol.” Retrieved June 4, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol
[5] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “Negotiating Text.” Retrieved June 4, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://maindb.unfccc.int/library/view_pdf.pl?url=http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/awglca6/eng/08.pdf
[6] OpenCongress. “American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009.” Retrieved June 4, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2454/show?gclid=CJ-4k6PY7poCFSMgDQodKx88BQ
[7] Los Angeles Times. “Kyoto Protocol’s Successor: Too Much Too Soon?” Retrieved June 4, 2009 from the World Wide Web: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-copenhagen4-2009jun04,0,486480.story
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