::::::::
This was not a good couple of weeks for those seeking action on the issue of climate change. On the other hand, it was a very good couple of weeks for those who have a vested interest in keeping things as they are.
The U.S. House of Representatives was barely able to pass a bill limiting carbon emissions and only then by weakening emission reduction goals. Now comes further inaction by the G8 -- Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, Japan and Italy which had hoped to clinch a new deal on global warming only to see the talks collapse in disarray and division.
A year ago, the G8 laid out a goal of cutting emissions in half by 2050, but did not say how this would be achieved. This time around the developed countries led by the United States, Great Britain, and Germany -- were hoping to get everyone on board with that.
The developing nations represented by China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa -- said not so fast. They felt that the developed countries should set goals cutting their own emissions sharply by 2020 before asking developing nations to commit to a long term target of a 50 percent reduction by 2050. The fact the U.S. House of Representatives watered down those very goals no doubt was not helpful in persuading India and China to accept the slower growth rates that would inevitably come from tougher emission standards.
The end result was a face-saving compromise. The G8 nations agreed that global temperatures should not rise more than 2C above pre-industrial levels. This was indeed something of an achievement, but the communiqué omitted any mention of plan to reduce such emissions.
Now, if you believe that global temperatures are rising due to man-made emissions, then it would seem to follow that limiting global temperatures down to a 2C rise requires reducing man-made emission of greenhouse gases. The closest anyone came to acknowledging that inconvenient truth was a statement that there was still work to be done and that the specifics of reaching the goal would be addressed later in Pittsburgh.
This latest failed attempt by the G8 highlights the fact that we lack the global decision-making mechanisms needed to deal with global problems such as climate change. Clearly, we need to find a better way of tackling such global problems, and we need to find it sooner rather than later.
We cannot keep on deferring meaningful action in a situation where time is not on our side. Inaction is a form of action. A failure to decide is a decision, one that will prove very costly for the millions of people who will soon find their daily lives forever altered.
This essay first appeared on PlanetRestart.org.
