Doha 2012: Money Talks

As the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research indicates, the top 10 countries for GHG emissions in 2010 are China, United States, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Japan, the Congo, Germany, and Canada. The evidence is clear: the list includes the world’s superpowers, the robust emerging economies attempting to enter into superpower markets, and some of the largest excavation and natural resource burning sites in use by superpower trade and demand. The combined GDP of these countries is upwards of 42.72 trillion USD.

On the contrary, the Global Climate Risk Index for 2013 asserts that the 10 most affected countries in terms of climate change from 1992 to 2011 are Honduras, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Haiti, Viet Nam, Korea, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic. Not so surprisingly, the combined GDP of these countries is about 5.4 trillion USD — a mere combined 12% of the GDP that the most polluting countries produce in the same year.

What conclusion can we draw through a parallel analysis of climate change cause and effect with GDP? The unfortunately evident reality is that countries with power are those that manipulate resources to produce and pollute, while those who suffer the consequences are silenced by their relatively “small” economic activity. However, this analysis ignores an important third factor — these groups of wealthy and poor countries do not exist in a vacuum. The economic reality is the product of hundreds of years of historical sociopolitical manipulation that has produced a generally wealthy Global North and a devastatingly dependent Global South.

This dynamic can be explained in two simple words: “Money Talks.”

The Doha Conference was yet another example of this dynamic at work. In this case, money dominated the conversation throughout a global attempt at mitigating one of the few of our most precious public goods: our shared climate.

The Huffington Post describes the relationship between poor and wealthy nations in the debate, illustrating the desperation of poor countries to collect the funds that have been promised to them. The “fast-start” pledge of $10 billion a year and the incremental promise to ramp it up to $100 billion a year (established by wealthy countries some three years ago) has yet to be described in real terms — the poorer countries find themselves asking, “What are the policies, benchmarks, and practices that can ensure such payment to protect the climate that we all share”? Unfortunately, the debate is marked (yet again) by the poor’s pleas for cooperation and wealthy’s tactics to avoid binding commitments.

Even more challenging, the Brookings Institution illustrates the dangers of the Climate Debate Post-2012 (the final year of Kyoto Protocols’ first commitment period). The core issue is that the “Fast Start Finance” of $1 billion a year will end on 1 January 2013 — with no real definition for how the gradual increase will reach $100 billion by 2013. As the article describes, a looming “fog” is descending upon the climate change debate at the onset of this new era and an engineered lack of clarity. This “fog” comes at an ideal time for the wealthy countries currently suffering a devastating economic recession — thereby providing a key opportunity for wealthy countries to back down on previous commitments as a strategy for reducing costs in the economic downturn. Although Doha produced opportunities for climate change to be considered yet again on the global scale (and importantly inviting the essential input of youth, activist groups, and the poor), the traditional power dynamic of the Global North still exists.

As we enter into 2013 and into a new and ever-challenging era of climate change, it is imperative that the political will of the wealthy countries adapts to the challenges at hand. As the Global Climate Risk report indicates, this may unfortunately mean direct climate impacts on wealthy countries in order for them to feel the effects. A harrowing reality gathered from the 2011 index indicates that United States was one of the top 10 climate change affected countries for the year (due to a rash of tornadoes and Hurricane Irene). Not so surprisingly, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was yet another reminder of the impending climate impacts for all countries. Unfortunately for wealthy countries, climate change may need to “hit home” before climate change mitigation has an actionable political agenda.

Comments Off on Doha 2012: Money Talks / 08 Dec 2012 por Kelly Elizabeth Behrend
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