Paris climate talks won't beat dangerous global warming but they will try to build a vehicle that can

 

Since Kyoto, the world has changed drastically.

As Australia’s lead UNFCCC negotiator Peter Woolcott pointed out last week, back in 1992 there were only three developing countries on the list of the world’s 12 biggest greenhouse gas emitters. Now there are seven.

China has replaced the US as the major global emitter and geopolitical power has shifted towards Asia.

So we need a new deal. COP21 in Paris is the culmination of years of work to get that deal done. This time, all countries are being asked to sign it and because the process works on a consensus approach, all parties need to agree or the deal dies.
The Climate Institute’s Erwin Jackson, who routinely attends UNFCC meetings, offered me a neat summary of how much further advanced the process is heading into Paris than at previous meetings.

At Copenhagen we had a draft agreement that was 200 pages long. At Kyoto it was 80 pages. At Paris, it’s 50 pages.

But there has also been a fundamental change in how the UNFCCC is trying to canvas agreement.
At Kyoto and at Copenhagen the UNFCCC was trying to impose targets to cut emissions from on high. This time the target-setting has been done by the countries themselves – a bottom-up approach.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2015/nov/26/paris-climate-talks-wont-beat-dangerous-global-warming-but-will-try-to-build-a-vehicle-that-can?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+AUS+v1+-+AUS+morning+mail+callout&utm_term=139651&subid=7413251&CMP=ema_632