Comments on: G20 are trying to hit ambitious greenhouse gas goals while obeying political constraints http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/09/25/g20-are-trying-to-hit-ambitious-greenhouse-gas-goals-while-obeying-political-constraints/ Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:23:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 By: Rameshwartandonhttp://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/09/25/g20-are-trying-to-hit-ambitious-greenhouse-gas-goals-while-obeying-political-constraints/comment-page-1/#comment-63291 Rameshwartandon Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:56:15 +0000 http://www.eastasiaforum.org/?p=7155#comment-63291 At the New York G20 summit convened by UN Secretary General, there was no discussion by developed countries about providing financial assistance to poor countries or the transfer of clean technology; rather the occasion was used to make speeches. US president Barack Obama promised to contribute to a road map to protect the planet’s future; but he gave no details. Scientists recommend that an 80 per cent cut in emissions by developed countries by 2050 is vital to avert the tipping point in climate change. Of course, the long-run goalpost might be unachievable under present circumstances. Together the US and China account for 50 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But Obama’s climate change legislation for energy reform is unlikely to be cleared by the Senate before the December Copenhagen summit of the UN Framework Convention on climate change. Chinese president Hu Jintao has assured the G20 that China will improve its energy efficiency and curb the rise of CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product by a notable margin by 2020 from the 2005 level but he did not elaborate further. So also Obama did not elaborate if there is a plan for anew era of renewable energy promotion and emissions cuts. While the International Panel on Climate change estimates that 50 years down the road, the acceptable safe level of CO2 emissions will be about 14 billion tonnes or 2.3 tonnes per capita per year; the average emission today is about double the limit at 4.8 tonnes per head. In absence of a serious mitigation effort, this will rise further to about 9 tonnes per head of four times the safe limit by 2060. Of course, much of the co2 emissions come at present from the developed countries; the US and Canada emit about 20 tones per head. Nobel Laureate Michael Spence has a nice strategy for getting around the gridlock. In the Spence solution , much of the mitigation action has to be taken by the developed countries in the form of a carbon Credit trading system ; also there has to be agreement on a global carbon emission mitigation time path leading to average mission levels of 2.5 to 3 tonnes per head in 50 years. Also nations are allowed to exchange these carbon credits between themselves based on national priorities. Then they should be allowed to earn additional carbon credits through mitigation activities. This would establish a price for carbon credits that supports the permissible level of global co2 emissions and is also based on global marginal cost of mitigation. The G 20 nations account for 90 per cent of global output and two-thirds of global population. It is this group plus a few others e.g. Mexico, Egypt that will have to deal with the economic and technical challenges of mitigation. At the New York G20 summit convened by UN Secretary General, there was no discussion by developed countries about providing financial assistance to poor countries or the transfer of clean technology; rather the occasion was used to make speeches. US president Barack Obama promised to contribute to a road map to protect the planet’s future; but he gave no details.

Scientists recommend that an 80 per cent cut in emissions by developed countries by 2050 is vital to avert the tipping point in climate change. Of course, the long-run goalpost might be unachievable under present circumstances.
Together the US and China account for 50 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But Obama’s climate change legislation for energy reform is unlikely to be cleared by the Senate before the December Copenhagen summit of the UN Framework Convention on climate change.

Chinese president Hu Jintao has assured the G20 that China will improve its energy efficiency and curb the rise of CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product by a notable margin by 2020 from the 2005 level but he did not elaborate further.

So also Obama did not elaborate if there is a plan for anew era of renewable energy promotion and emissions cuts.
While the International Panel on Climate change estimates that 50 years down the road, the acceptable safe level of CO2 emissions will be about 14 billion tonnes or 2.3 tonnes per capita per year; the average emission today is about double the limit at 4.8 tonnes per head. In absence of a serious mitigation effort, this will rise further to about 9 tonnes per head of four times the safe limit by 2060.

Of course, much of the co2 emissions come at present from the developed countries; the US and Canada emit about 20 tones per head.

Nobel Laureate Michael Spence has a nice strategy for getting around the gridlock. In the Spence solution , much of the mitigation action has to be taken by the developed countries in the form of a carbon Credit trading system ; also there has to be agreement on a global carbon emission mitigation time path leading to average mission levels of 2.5 to 3 tonnes per head in 50 years. Also nations are allowed to exchange these carbon credits between themselves based on national priorities. Then they should be allowed to earn additional carbon credits through mitigation activities. This would establish a price for carbon credits that supports the permissible level of global co2 emissions and is also based on global marginal cost of mitigation. The G 20 nations account for 90 per cent of global output and two-thirds of global population. It is this group plus a few others e.g. Mexico, Egypt that will have to deal with the economic and technical challenges of mitigation.

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