Tackling Climate Change - Q and As
Is climate change really happening, and is it created by humans?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the global authority on climate change, which takes evidence from thousands of scientists from over 130 countries - concludes that there is a more than 90 per cent chance that the observed warming since the 1950s is due to human activity.
The world has previously experienced warmer and colder periods without interference from humans. However, such a rapid increase in average global temperatures over the last century cannot be accounted for by natural factors alone, and strongly correlates with CO2 levels.
This increase in temperature leads to changes in climate including sea level rise and drought - most recently seen in the mass floods in Bangladesh and the Philippines.
What is the urgency of a 40% cut in
CO2 emissions by 2020?
Scientists have said we need an 80% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050, but this must be a constant downwards trajectory. For instance - if the entire 80% cut came in 2049, so much CO2 would have been emitted in to the atmosphere that it is likely the planet would have passed the point of no return.
What about China and India?
China and India are both significant and growing contributors to greenhouse gases. However, developed nations remain the main polluters and are historically responsible for 70 per cent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so they must lead the way in cutting emissions. After all, the average carbon footprint of each person living in China is only half that of someone living in the UK and a third of the country's emissions are generated by producing goods for export to rich countries like our own.
What is wrong with carbon offsetting?
Offsetting is the theory that some people can pollute more if other people agree to pollute less. However it does not work. It does not guarantee emissions cuts because many ‘offset' projects in developing countries would have happened anyway. Even if it did work, offsetting would allow people in rich countries to carry on polluting while requiring unfair reductions in developing countries, who did not create the problem.
The world needs developed countries to cut their own emissions first and fast and pay up for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries.
What is technology transfer?
The transfer of clean/ environmentally friendly technologies from rich countries to poor.
What is climate change adaptation?
Climate
change adaptation means communities, supported by governments, taking early
action to reduce the damaging impact that climate change will have on their
lives. Development charities are already carrying out work to help people adapt
to the impacts of climate change. Examples include upgrading national flood
early warning systems, building homes and schools on raised foundations,
building high platforms for emergency flood shelters and creating
community-based disaster response plans.
What is wrong with channelling money
to deal with climate change through the World Bank?
The World Bank is unaccountable to the poorest countries (see part 3) and has a history of funding polluting projects and attaching damaging conditions to its loans. To make sure this does not happen again, funds for adaptation and mitigation should be made in the form of grants through the UN.
