Prague examines agenda for Copenhagen summit

The challenges facing a crucial December climate change meeting in Copenhagen were the focus of a Sept. 23 Prague conference attended by EU specialists and global warming experts.

The importance of Copenhagen rests with the fact that the Kyoto agreement - the 1997 UN treaty seeking to curb climate change with 183 signatories - is running out of time. By 2012, a new agreement will have to replace it if there is to be a concerted international effort to tackle climate change. What transpires in Copenhagen could be the basis for that new agreement.

"The phrase 'climate change' may not give the full impact of the dangers the world is facing," EU Climate Change Policy Officer Vicky Pollard said.

"Certainly, if we were doing nothing, a better term than climate change might be eco-suicide, but we are taking measures to tackle the danger. You see, everyone will feel the consequences of climate change - some more than others, but no nation will be spared."

The conference, held at the Jalta Hotel on Wenceslas Square, resulted in a consensus that the most important deals in tackling global warming will not be between states but among politicians within the states themselves.

In the case of the United States, for instance, it is not President Barack Obama reaching a deal with the Chinese leadership but rather the U.S. president striking an agreement with key senators that will push the process forward.

Regardless of whether political deals are struck or not, "millions of people, especially in poorer regions, are already suffering," said Vojtěch Kotecký, program director of Friends of the Earth, a London-based environmental group.

"We can already see that hardship is being caused by climate change, and the next two months will see if the political will is there" for Copenhagen to continue on from Kyoto, he said.

The key number for tackling global warming is 2 degrees Celsius, Pollard said. Carbon dioxide emissions must be halved by 2050 compared with 1990 levels for global warming to be stabilized below 2 degrees from what it was in 1900. Anything above this figure and the planet's warming will be hard to contain any further. More than 100 countries have already adopted this target.

The essence of practical action resulting from Copenhagen is financial, Pollard said.

Wealthy nations will commit themselves to spending billions of dollars to "green" their economies and provide poorer nations with funds to do the same, while also tackling the consequences of climate change already occurring.

Pollard acknowledges that, in these turbulent financial times, money is in short supply, but the issue is too great to fail because of tight purse strings, she said.

"The point here is that the economic crisis is short-term; already, we are hopefully seeing some nations emerge from it. But the threat to our climate is long-term, and we have yet to emerge from it."

The Environment Ministry is optimistic that Copenhagen can help formulate a post-Kyoto deal, according to spokesman Jakub Kašpar.

"We strongly believe that, in Copenhagen, we will manage to reach a worldwide agreement on climate protection after 2012, which will contain clear reduction commitments and also mechanisms on how to help poorer countries in their economic development," he said.  

It is not just the high diplomacy of Kyoto or Copenhagen that counts to save the planet, Kašpar added.

"Adjusting everyday habits like switching to public transport or car pooling can reduce emissions," he said.   

Tom Clifford can be reached at
tclifford@praguepost.com