| update: Doha climate talks |

Once again international nego-

tiators attending the annual

United Nations climate change

conference, held in Doha, Qatar

from 26 November to 8 December

2012, attempted to reach a deal

that would provide a pathway to

reducing greenhouse gases which

are threatening the world as we

know it.

Once again, there was some

progress towards making both in-

dustrialised and developing nations

agree to tackle fossil fuel emissions and keep

global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees

Celsius but they left the heavy work of creating the

crucial binding legislation for future years.

In the end, 195 nations endorsed a proposal

to extend the Kyoto Protocol, which includes only

some developed nations, from 2013 to 2020.

Countries represented at the Durban UN con-

ference in 2011 did agree to a fi rm timetable to

adopt a new universal climate agreement by 2015,

which would see both developed and developing

nations cut greenhouse gas emissions from 2020

onwards.

According to a UN Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC) press release issued

after the Doha conference, nations also endorsed

the completion of new institutions and agreed ways

and means to deliver scaled-up climate fi nance

and technology to developing countries.

Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of

UNFCCC, said it was important to swiftly implement

what had been agreed to in Doha so that the world

can stay below the internationally agreed maximum

two degrees Celsius temperature rise.

“Now, there is much work to do. Doha is an-

other step in the right direction, but we still have a

long road ahead,” Figueres said. “The UN Climate

Change negotiations must now focus on the

concrete ways and means to accelerate action and

ambition. The world has the money and technol-

ogy to stay below two degrees. After Doha, it is a

matter of scale, speed, determination and sticking

to the timetable.”

Critics of the proposal quickly pointed out that

the US and China, the two biggest emitters of green-

house gases, are not part of the Kyoto Protocol

and that other nations, such as Japan, Russia and

Canada, are no longer included in the extension,

which now represents only about 15% of global

carbon emissions.

Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) strongly

condemned the governments of industrialised coun-

tries for blocking action on the climate crisis at the

Doha summit.

Asad Rehman, an FOEI spokesman said: “The

Doha deal is as empty as a desert mirage. Despite

the offi cial spin, these talks delivered nothing: no

real progress on cutting greenhouse gases and only

an insulting gesture at climate fi nance.”

Despite the pessimism surrounding the talks,

EWEA agreed with Figueres’ statement that solu-

tions are already available to reduce greenhouse

gas emissions. EWEA has also called repeatedly for

a new binding and strengthened international agree-

ment on emissions reductions.

Numerous studies over the past several years

have pointed out that wind power and other renewa-

bles have the potential to help lead the world to a

low- or no-carbon future later this century as well as

driving a vibrant new green economy.

In mid-November, a report that Greenpeace

International and the Global Wind Energy Council re-

leased showed wind power could supply up to 12%

of global electricity by 2020, create 1.4 million new

jobs and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1.5

billion tons per year, more than fi ve times today’s

level.

By 2030, the report added, wind power could

provide more than 20% of global electricity supply.

Rémi Gruet, EWEA’s Senior Regulatory Affairs

Advisor, said the Doha discussions, from the

perspective of reducing greenhouse gases, were

essentially a non-event.

Gruet did say that the EU made an interesting

last-minute concession by agreeing to ‘revisit its

[level of ambition] by at latest 2014.’

“This could mean an increase of EU GHG

reduction-targets for 2020, possibly ‘in line with

a reduction of at least 25 to 40% below 1990 by

2020’ as recommended by science and added into

the agreement,” he said. “This could mean addi-

tional international pressure on the EU to increase

its ambition or fi nd a solution to the low price of

carbon, or both. But it could also mean nothing at

all, depending on your understanding of ‘revisiting’.”

This year’s UN climate change conference will

take place in Warsaw, Poland. ■

Still no agreement on emissionsBy Chris Rose

Photo: Dave Walsh

18 WIND DIRECTIONS | February 2013