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Resolution 1682 (2009)
Challenges posed by climate change
1. The Parliamentary
Assembly is concerned about the consequences of global climate change
and the urgent need to secure a successful agreement at the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15 – Fifteenth
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) in December 2009. Recent scientific
evidence shows that global warming is occurring faster than predicted.
If emissions continue unabated, climate change is likely to accelerate
faster than previously forecast.
2. According to scientific observations of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the warming of the climate system
is unequivocal. As a result of anthropogenic emissions, atmospheric concentrations
of CO2 now far exceed the natural range over
the last 650 000 years. Without a serious global commitment to reduce
greenhouse gases (GHG), climate change will, in the long term, be
likely to exceed the capacity of nature and mankind to adapt.
3. Setting the limit to the global average temperature rise to
2°C above the pre-industrial level is considered by the scientific
community as a threshold beyond which climate change would become
far more dangerous, with the risk of irreversible and potentially
catastrophic environmental changes.
4. According to the scientific reports, the average global temperature
has increased by 0.8°C over the past 100 years and is now rising
by around 0.2°C per decade. Given the significant time delay between
the release of GHG emissions and temperature rise, the window of
opportunity to remain below the 2°C temperature ceiling is closing
very fast. The IPCC estimates that a 50% to 85% reduction of global
GHG emissions is necessary by 2050.
5. Today there is a clear recognition that global action is vital.
However, there is little political consensus on how to share the
burden to achieve the necessary 50% to 85% reduction by 2050, and
even less consensus on how to set mid-term economy-wide quantitative
targets for 2020. The consensus is difficult to reach even amongst
the economically most developed countries.
6. The Assembly regrets that the current commitments under the
Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC amount to only 5% of overall reduction
of GHG emissions from developed countries (countries listed in Annex
I) over a five-year period from 2008 to 2012. Moreover, few Parties
to the Kyoto Protocol are in a position to meet their current GHG
reduction targets, and some developed countries will considerably
exceed those targets. As it currently stands, the Kyoto Protocol
cannot generate the level of cuts in GHG emissions to maintain a
stable climate system.
7. The Assembly therefore calls on the Parties to the UNFCCC
at their next meeting in Copenhagen to reach an ambitious, binding
global agreement for a future “low-carbon” world. The world has
less than a decade to radically change course. Urgent action is
therefore needed right now.
8. Renegotiating the global agreement on climate change for the
post-Kyoto period, after 2012, represents a challenge to reach a
fair balance between the interests of the rich industrialised countries,
which carry the overwhelming responsibility for past GHG emissions;
the interests of the developing countries, which have fast-growing
economies and populations and which contribute an increasing share
of current GHG emissions; and the interests of the world’s poorest
countries, which are most affected by climate change and have less capacity
and fewer resources to adapt to life-threatening changes.
9. The Assembly is aware that poor countries and vulnerable citizens
will suffer the most, even though they have contributed the least
to global warming. Their level of poverty is already extremely high
and is further increased by factors such as global growth, the global
economic recession and global climate change. These loom as multiple
disasters for the poorest countries.
10. The Assembly is deeply concerned that failure to act will
consign the poorest 40% of the world’s population – 2.6 billion
people – to a grim future, further jeopardising their right to life,
and their access to water, to food, to good health, to a gainful
livelihood, and to decent housing and security. The Assembly supports
the view expressed in the United Nations Development Programme Human
Development Report 2008 that climate change demands urgent action
in order to address the threat to the two most vulnerable groups
with a weak political voice: the world’s poor, and future generations.
11. Climate change raises important questions about social justice,
equity and human rights across countries and across generations.
The Assembly asserts that the battle against climate change can
and must be won with sufficient political will to do so. The world
lacks neither the financial resources nor the technological ability
to act.
12. The Assembly believes that climate change represents not only
a threat, but equally an opportunity to envisage a new form of economic
and human development. Given that the 19th century was founded on
mass production and the 20th century on mass consumption, the 21st
century should focus on quality of life, respect for nature and
sustainable development. It is therefore important to invest in
the green economy, which will set in train a lasting process of
change and meet the economic and environmental challenges ahead.
13. With a view to achieving a lasting global agreement, the Assembly
considers that the Parties to the UNFCCC should strive to agree
on two long-term objectives in the post-Kyoto negotiations: respect
for social equity and respect for equity in energy and resource
consumption (ecological footprint). Under the assumption that equal
GHG emissions per capita should be set as targets for all countries
by 2050 (at a level of 2 tonnes CO2 equivalent
per capita), the developed countries will have to take a strong
lead to initiate deep and early cuts in GHG emissions. They must
demonstrate that a low-carbon economy is possible and affordable.
14. According to the 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate
Change, mitigating climate change is affordable if action is taken
quickly to reverse the current trends. Meeting the 2°C target could
be achieved with annual global GDP losses of around 1% per year
by 2050 if early action is taken. When taking into account co-benefits
in terms of energy saving, air pollution reduction and improvements
in human health, net costs could be even significantly lower. The
costs of early actions to reduce climate change are small compared
to the relative costs of impacts due to inaction, which are estimated
to amount to between 5% and 20% of annual global GDP in the long
term.
15. The Assembly welcomes the strong lead taken by the European
Union, as in the formulation of the Kyoto agreement, in committing
to reduce GHG emissions by 20% compared to 1990 levels by 2020,
and its readiness to sign up to a 30% reduction target if a sufficiently
ambitious and comprehensive international agreement is reached in
Copenhagen that will provide for comparable reductions by other
developed countries and appropriate actions by developing countries.
16. The Assembly urges other leading developed countries to match
or exceed the unilateral pledge of the European Union.
17. The Assembly welcomes the conclusions of the World Business
Summit on Climate Change (Copenhagen, 26 May 2009) and is convinced
that investment in new clean technologies cannot fail to be of economic
benefit to industry and to corporate development.
18. The Assembly believes that international co-operation has
a critical role to play at many levels. Co‑operation must be boosted
to provide the necessary capacity, technology and finance for the
developing countries, assisting them to adopt and implement low-carbon
development strategies within a set timeframe. These strategies
should define a credible pathway to limit the country’s emissions
through nationally appropriate mitigation actions that cover all
key emitting sectors, especially the power sector, transport, the major
energy-intensive industries, the coal and nuclear sectors and, where
significant, forestry and agriculture. The global effort to reduce
GHG emissions would be considerably improved if a post-2012 Kyoto
framework incorporated efficient mechanisms for finance and technology
transfers.
19. A future agreement will follow the principles of the Kyoto
agreement on climate change but will need to be essentially different
in that it will have to apply universally and no longer be limited
to the richer developed countries. It will have to take into account
the necessity of establishing carbon emission targets for each country.
The Assembly fully supports a more equitable and differentiated
approach that gives due recognition to a country’s population, industrial
development and poverty. Equality and social justice need to be
at the heart of the global climate change agreement.
20. The Assembly regrets that, despite human migration possibly
becoming the gravest consequence of global warming, this aspect
has not been taken fully into account in the process of negotiations
for the new climate change agreement. The Assembly deems it essential
that the outcome in Copenhagen should acknowledge the links between
the effects of global-warming-induced environmental degradation
on migration and displacement, and the states’ obligations to address
these issues.
21. The credibility of the future global agreement will hinge
on the strong participation of major GHG emitters in the developing
world such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico. To meet the 2°C objective,
IPCC reports indicate that developing countries will need to limit
the rise in GHG emissions to 15% to 30% below baseline by 2020.
However, developing countries ought to have sufficient flexibility
to make the transition to low-carbon growth at a rate consistent
with their capabilities. The great diversity of situations, vulnerabilities
and mitigation potentials among developing countries has to be recognised
and taken into account in the global agreement.
22. The credibility of such an agreement will also rely on the
commitment of all stakeholders. It must be fully inclusive and integrate
the decisive role of local and regional authorities in greenhouse
gas reduction policies. Indeed, these levels of governance hold
responsibilities in several fields which determine the intensity
of GHG emissions. They have already taken many steps to prepare
for a "zero carbon" future and to adapt their territories to the
new climatic conditions. Their action is crucial if national greenhouse
gas reduction targets are to be met. The Assembly welcomes the efforts
undertaken in this field by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
of the Council of Europe and by the leading local and regional government
associations and networks in Europe and in the world.
23. The Assembly believes that the global challenge of climate
change requires international co‑operation on a scale which is unprecedented.
It requires a global deal. The Assembly therefore urges the Council
of Europe member states and observer states to negotiate an integrated
package comprising the following key elements which must be part
of the new global climate change agreement:
23.1. reduce world emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared
to 1990, which should be reflected in targets fixed in Copenhagen
and in emission trading;
23.2. set immediate and binding targets of 20% to 40% by 2020
and commit to a reduction of at least 80% by 2050 for all developed
countries, which have to lead by example;
23.3. reinforce the role of local and regional authorities in
national action plans, establishing strong partnerships and empowering
them with capacities and resources;
23.4. convincingly demonstrate that low-carbon growth is possible
and affordable in developed countries, including sharing technologies
and creating trading and other financing mechanisms with developing
countries;
23.5. undertake nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs)
in developing countries and commit to take on targets at the latest
by 2020;
23.6. adopt national emission reductions and carbon trading
schemes in developed countries, which are designed to integrate
trading mechanisms with other countries, including with developing
countries both before and after they adopt targets;
23.7. devise an effective international carbon trading regime
with sufficient incentives;
23.8. developed countries to commit to research and development,
demonstration and sharing of new technologies and dissemination
of existing technologies, for example, developing and scaling up
near-commercial technologies for wind power; solar water heating,
biomass and biogas; creating breakthrough technologies, including
advanced solar technologies and energy recovery from waste; making
a financial commitment to feed-in tariffs for carbon capture and
storage (CCS) for coal;
23.9. include, in the carbon trading mechanism, measures aiming
to avoid deforestation and to fight erosion, soil degradation, desertification,
sea-shell farming and oil pollution of the marine environment;
23.10. conserve natural terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems
and restore degraded ecosystems according to the overall goals of
the UNFCCC;
23.11. give priority to the needs of the most vulnerable communities
and those most affected by environmental degradation induced by
global warming, and improve international mechanisms for prevention,
vulnerability reduction, adaptation and humanitarian response to
climate change;
23.12. apply ecosystem-based adaptation, which integrates the
use of biodiversity and ecosystem services into an overall adaptation
strategy and which can generate social, economic and cultural co-benefits
and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity;
23.13. allocate overseas assistance to support development goals
in a more hostile climate as a basic requirement of equity. Those
new development goals need to break away from the current development model
which is based on the intensive use of hydrocarbons from which the
whole world must now depart;
23.14. find economic solutions based on clean forms of energy.
24. In conclusion, the Parliamentary Assembly invites the participants
in COP 15 in Copenhagen to reach an agreement on significant global
reduction of greenhouse gases. The Assembly urges the developed countries
to show leadership and demonstrate the possibility and economic
feasibility of substantial reduction of emissions. For this to happen
it is necessary to integrate all the tools of GHG emission reduction
so that they will reinforce each other. The window of opportunity
is narrow so the time to act is now. The Assembly recalls that an
agreement is also needed at Copenhagen for social justice reasons,
because developing countries and the least advanced countries are
particularly vulnerable, as they will suffer most from the impacts
of climate change.