Amongst the despair, are there any signs of hope? Doha 2012?

Blog post for the subject Environmental Economics and Accounting

The “new normal” is how the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the recent extreme weather events that have occurred around our planet, such as Hurricane Sandy in New York and Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines. Hurricane Sandy caused an estimated $71 billion in damage. Typhoon Bopha killed over 900 people.

And now…there are also countless alarming articles in the media reporting that climate change is actually happening faster than previously predicted, and at the current rate of climate change, we can expect increasing levels of environmental devastation, mass extinctions, and more frequent extreme weather disasters like Sandy and Bopha.

I have included the below links as examples of such articles:

“CO2 emissions rises mean dangerous climate change now almost certain”

“Six degrees of devastation”

“Global warming evidence strengthens, UN official says”

“Climate change ‘taking place before our eyes’, global body say”

I don’t know about you, but reading these reports leaves me in a state of despair. This is especially true given the rapid pace of industrialization in nearly every corner of the globe, the current economic recession in the developed countries, and the almost unstoppable growth of countries like China, India and Brazil.

I believe climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity has ever faced – and if we are to rise to this challenge, we will undoubtedly require a global solution. This global solution that most of us are hoping for is currently in the hands of the world’s leaders who just finished talks at the U.N. climate change conference in Doha, Qatar. However, if you read most of the articles and reports in the media about the Doha conference, it is most likely that you will get the impression that it was just another round of diplomatic talks that didn’t really achieve much….

“U.N. talks seen falling short despite climate change fears”

“Doha climate talks end with a whimper”

“Doha climate talks head for failure on rich, poor divide”

“Green groups warn of Doha failure as aid pledges fall short”

“Climate change talks deadlocked on final day of UN summit”

….Meanwhile….we continue to see more and more articles in the news referring to ‘tipping points’, ‘short windows’ of time for action and previously unaccounted ‘positive feedback loops’…again, some more examples:

“UN: Methane released from melting ice could push climate past tipping point”

“Climate change ‘taking place before our eyes’, global body says”

“Sea levels rising faster than UN projections: study”

So, on one hand we have the science strengthening the urgency for action. While on the other hand, it seems we have the economics and international politics regarding climate change going around and around in circles – unable to find the money or the political will to develop an effective agreement. And it is in this sense, that climate change has been described as “the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen”. A market failure arising from the dominate global ideology of neoliberalism or market fundamentalism. Some may argue that the problem of climate change simply cannot be addressed until new political systems are formed that can restrain the “global grab” of power and natural resources by corporations and the elite.

However, assuming political systems and ideologies are unfortunately not going to change for the better anytime soon, was Doha just another turn in the circle of complacency or did Doha actually bring us any closer to setting the world on track for a possible way to combat climate change?

Instead of just focusing on the perceived lack of progress, I would like to identify if there were any positive points coming from Doha and if there are any signs of hope?

So let’s see…well, the leaders at Doha did manage to achieve a second commitment period of the existing Kyoto Protocol. While this may sound positive, the reality of the details is that the Kyoto Protocol only limits the emissions of some rich countries. Moreover, some countries like Russia opted out of this second period of the Protocol altogether because it was opposed to the rules in the Protocol which limited its use of carbon credits in the established trading scheme. What is most concerning about this second commitment though is that those rich countries who did sign on will still only represent 15 % of global emissions…

Other small achievements from Doha were mainly administrative in nature related to issues around climate accounting and finance. So from the bigger picture, international agreement point of view, Doha did not produce any overwhelmingly positive results, rather “Doha delivered just enough to keep the process moving”…

However, during my research for this blog, I did come across a few other signs of hope. Signs not directly from the discussions on agreements, but positive signs coming from small events within or around the Doha conference:

1. “Doha leads way in bringing gender equality to COP agenda” – one initiative that was achieved at Doha was the decision to promote gender equality by increasing the participation of women in the UNFCCC negotiations. This initiative recognizes that we cannot combat climate change without the contribution of women who make up half the global population’s intellect and capabilities.
2. “Qatar unveils low-emission hybrid SUV” – The unveiling of this new hybrid car which reduces emissions by 50% is symbolic that R&D and innovation will continue to produce new technologies that can help to mitigate climate change.
3. “Doha climate conference diary: Qatar’s first environmental march” – The activism demonstrated by this march was the first ever in Qatar and is symbolic of the increasing number of activists from the Arab countries which are now also calling on their leaders to combat climate change. Many of the activists in Doha wore t-shirts that said “Arabs Time to Lead”.

What these three small events ultimately represent is that, even though Doha 2012 may not have been an huge leap forward, more and more people around the world are taking climate change seriously. Therefore, people are starting to develop new approaches to climate change, both socially and technologically. It will nevertheless be a race against the clock for humanity if we are to avoid a planet 6 degrees hotter by 2100…

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