InDepth News 02 July 2019
International efforts to curb global warming continue to be hampered by a European/Asian divide. Last year’s climate change summit in Copenhagen saw China and India opt out of a legally binding commitment to curb carbon emissions, as they attempt to protect their economic growth. (1281 Words) - By Shada Islam
European and Asian governments did not see eye to eye at the
climate change summit held in Copenhagen last December, and as
preparations intensify for another international meeting on global
warming -- this time in Cancun, Mexico -- at the end of the year,
prospects for a credible and enforceable agreement remain
elusive.
Curbing greenhouse emissions is arguably the world's key global
governance challenge. And the results of the Copenhagen summit,
namely a voluntary goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius
(3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and a pledge from rich countries to give
about 25 billion euros in aid from 2010-2012, are clearly not
ambitious enough.
For all their differences and public spats, however, Asian and
European governments face a shared challenge: keeping carbon
emissions as low as possible to prevent further environmental
damage while, at the same time, creating the growth necessary to
raise living standards.
It is imperative therefore to shift the focus from confrontation
on achieving climate change targets to cooperation on developing a
low-carbon economy. Such collaboration could be based on crafting
new economic, technological and social systems of production and
consumption which allow for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
while maintaining the momentum towards economic and social
development.
ASEM SUMMIT
The question will figure high on the agenda of the eighth ASEM
(Asia-Europe Meeting) summit in Brussels on October 4-5. As Andris
Piebalgs, European Commissioner responsible for development,
pointed out at a recent ASEM Development Conference held in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia: "green growth holds great potential for Asia
and the EU -- it is the only way to reduce poverty in a sustainable
manner."
Finding common ground within ASEM on the development and
implementation of low-carbon growth strategies is not difficult.
After all, both regions are tackling climate change and have made
significant commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
EU governments are committed to a 20 per cent reduction in 1990
greenhouse gas emission levels by 2020 and have said they are
willing to move to 30 per cent as part of an international
agreement.
China has said it will try to voluntarily reduce its emissions of
carbon dioxide per unit of economic growth -- a measure known as
"carbon intensity" -- by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared with
2005 levels. India has set a domestic emissions intensity reduction
target of 20 to 25 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels,
excluding its agricultural sector. It has also set ambitious
targets for solar energy. Meanwhile, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand
and the Philippines have adopted important forest conservation
measures.
"GREEN JOBS"
Despite their different development levels, Asia and Europe share
a common challenge of dealing with various facets of developing a
low-carbon economy: managing urbanisation, creating so-called
"green jobs", protecting forests, raising public awareness,
investing in research and development as well as training experts
in green growth.
This requires coordination among states as well as a sharing of
information and technology. In fact, since low-carbon development
is a new concept for both regions -- and there is no
pre-established path towards achieving this goal -- there is space
for cooperation, joint learning and collective Asia-Europe
action.
Both Asia and Europe stand to gain: for European governments,
green growth will help fight unemployment, provide new export
opportunities and also help meet reduced emission targets. For
their part, Asian countries, struggling to combine high-growth,
poverty reduction and low carbon development, will have an
opportunity to leapfrog technology and avoid high-carbon
consumption patterns, for example through a more widespread use of
low emission cars.
Asia, with its rapidly growing mega-cities and an urban population
which is expected to double from 1.5 billion to 3 billion people
during the next two decades, has a special interest in ensuring
that the further expansion of urban infrastructure is low carbon
based.
ACTION
Pathways to a low-carbon economy require action on four fronts:
improving the energy efficiency of buildings, vehicles and
industrial equipment; intensifying the use of low-carbon energy
supply (ex wind, hydro power, solar, carbon capture sequestration
and nuclear); halting deforestation, changing agricultural
practices and finally, encouraging behavioural change including
food consumption, mobility, housing and tourism.
There will be tough decisions to take since there will be initial
job losses in the fossil energy sector. However, additional
employment will be created in sustainable energy generation and in
energy efficient products and services which are more labour
intensive than fossil energy production.
Policymakers will also have to underline that energy savings
generated by low carbon solutions can translate into lower
production costs and hence increase the competitiveness of
countries on a low-carbon development path. In addition,
investments in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies could
pull the global economy out of its economic slowdown over the next
couple of years.
China has already set aside an important percentage of its
economic stimulus package on the development of new green
technologies. Whatever critics may say about Beijing's resistance
to carbon caps, it is clear that Chinese authorities want to
highlight their own efforts to reduce emissions and spread the
message to their society's grassroots.
There are also examples of Asia-Europe cooperation to encourage
low-carbon growth. For instance, the Switch-Asia programme,
launched in 2007 with a 90 million euro financing by the EU over a
period 2007-2010, is working to spur a systematic change towards
environment and climate friendly consumption and production
practices. The programme works on the ground with producers and
consumers and at the policy-making level by supporting the
formulation and implementation of policies.
A total of 30 projects in 15 Asian countries have been funded so
far in areas such as green public procurement, cleaner production
and eco-labelling and more schemes are likely to be financed in the
future. In China, a Switch project aims at increasing market demand
for energy-efficient electric motors. Another scheme, builds on a
Chinese initiative to foster green public procurement by giving
priority to products accredited with the China Environmental
Label.
These initiatives need to be encouraged and replicated elsewhere.
The second decade of the 21st Century will undoubtedly be decisive
for accelerating low-carbon development. Discussions, information
exchange and cooperation within ASEM could help foster the
transition towards a low carbon future, with an ASEM partnership
working across all areas of cooperation, from international
negotiations through private sector initiative to aid-funded
programmes.
As Dirk Messner, a professor and director of the German
Development Institute, stressed at the ASEM conference in
Yogyakarta, "if ASEM countries would go for low-carbon development,
they could transform the global economy".
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