The upcoming United Nations COP15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is the most vital international climate change conference since Kyoto in 1997. This conference is important for a host of reasons, partly due to its timing and also due to the fact that the climate change sitaution is actually alot worse than was previously thought.
From BusinessGreen Blog:
Latest scientific research presented climate scientists in Copenhagen confirms what many had privately feared: we are on track for the worst case scenario set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change two years ago, and the instabilities in the climate system coupled with the fact that many natural carbon sinks are beginning to fail mean that it could be worse still.
All the latest climate science suggests global average temperatures are rising in line with expectations, but carbon emissions are rising faster than anticipated and natural systems are responding more dramatically than expected to even modest temperature rises.
The Copenhagen conference also comes at a prescient time for the world economy. Since Kyoto in 1997, there have been many changes to the world climate change scenario. The USA has been replaced by China as the largest greenhouse gas emitter (Brazil and Inonesia aren’t far behind), and oil prices have soared – reminding us that fossil fuels are a finite resource that require a sustainable replacement.
We can only hope that this time of crisis brings the various governments of the world together, and provides us with a wide ranging and comprehensive agreement which will provide a framework within which to develop a sustainable green energy future.
What would you like to see agreed in Copenhagen this December?
