1. EGS1003: Section on International Environmental Justice and the Climate Change Challenge Mary Lawhon (marylawhon@gmail.com)marylawhon@gmail.com This work by Mary Lawhon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

2.  First World Climate Conference  Meeting mostly of scientists  Concludes that CO 2 is the leading cause of global warming  Declaration urges govt to “foresee and prevent” climate change (Source: http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html)http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html

3.  Renowned climatologist James Hansen speaks to the US Senate  Says greenhouse effect is happening now  Year of global high temperatures makes the issue more prominent  Noted by some scientists as too extreme (Source: http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html)http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html

4.  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is established by UNEP and WMO  “The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio- economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters… The IPCC is an intergovernmental body… By endorsing the IPCC reports, governments acknowledge the authority of their scientific content” (IPCC website) (Source: http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml)

5.  General agreement on the need to reduce emissions- but how much overall? Per country?  Voluntary agreement for developed nations to stabilize their greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2000 (Source: http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html)http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html

6.  Where the UNFCC convention is voluntary, Kyoto sets binding amounts  Targets differ by country, are expressed as levels of allowed emissions  Debates on North/South responsibilities unable to be resolved; deferred; a year later they are still stuck  2001 Protocol finalized, 2004 ratified

7.  These are market-based mechanisms that “help stimulate green investment and help Parties meet their emission targets in a cost-effective way.” (UNFCC website)  This is very different than the “climate debt” argument of the climate justice movement  Joint Implementation in global North (Source: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php)

8.  “allows countries that have emission units to spare - emissions permitted them but not "used" - to sell this excess capacity to countries that are over their targets”  Can also occur at national/regional scale to achieve the Kyoto targets (European Union Emissions Trading Scheme) (Source: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/emissions_trading/items/2731. php)

9.  “Allows a country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol… to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.” (UNFCC website) (Source: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/clean_development_mech anism/items/2718.php)

10.  Helps the GS develop sustainably  Helps the GN achieve emissions reductions as lowest cost  As of March 2010, 2099 projects registered Of 6724 projects, only178 in Africa Lowest per capita in the world

11.  Concerns with process: who is included in the discussions  Further non-binding commitments  What next? Kyoto runs out in 2012

12.  1995 – COP 1, The Berlin Mandate  1996 – COP 2, Geneva, Switzerland  1997 – COP 3, The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change  1998 – COP 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina  1999 – COP 5, Bonn, Germany  2000 – COP 6, The Hague, Netherlands  2001 – COP 6 Bonn, Germany  2001 – COP 7, Marrakech, Morocco  2002 – COP 8, New Delhi, India  2003 – COP 9, Milan, Italy  2004 – COP 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina  2005 – COP 11/MOP 1, Montreal, Canada  2006 – COP 12/MOP 2, Nairobi, Kenya  2007 – COP 13/MOP 3, Bali, Indonesia  2008 – COP 14/MOP 4, Poznań, Poland  2009 – COP 15/MOP 5, Copenhagen, Denmark  2010 – COP 16/MOP 6, Cancún, Mexico  2011 – COP 17/MOP 7, Durban, South Africa  2012 – COP 18/MOP 8

13. http://www.nature.com/climate/timeline/icp/index.html http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/emissions_trading/items/2731.php http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/mechanisms/clean_development_mechanism/items/2718.php All web links were checked in November 2011 11/11/14