WHAT DURBAN’S DEAL DOES AND DOESN’T DO

Climate Deal Doesn't Make Things Better
Arthur Max and Karl Ritter (with Seth Borenstein), December 11, 2011 (Time Magazine)

"The hard-fought deal at a global climate conference in South Africa keeps talks alive but doesn't address the core problem: The world's biggest carbon polluters aren't willing to cut emissions of greenhouse gases enough to stave off dangerous levels of global warming…With many scientists saying time is running out, a bigger part of the solution may have to come from the rise of climate-friendly technologies being developed outside the U.N. process…

"A report released before the Durban talks by the U.N. Environment Programme said greenhouse gas emissions need to peak before 2020 for the world to have a shot of reaching that target. It said that's doable only if nations raise their emissions pledges…In Durban, they did not…Sunday's deal extends by five years the Kyoto Protocol…The Durban agreement also envisions a new accord with binding targets for all countries to take effect in 2020. [Negotiators overcame gridlock in the final hours and kept the process moving by laying out rules for monitoring and verifying emissions reductions, protecting forests, transferring clean technologies to developing countries and scores of technical issues]…"

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"…Climate talks have been bogged down by rifts between rich and poor, between fully industrialized nations and emerging economies, about how to share the burden of reducing greenhouse emissions…Meanwhile, the atmosphere keeps filling up with heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels…Figures from the U.N. weather agency show the three most powerful greenhouse gases reached record levels last year and were increasing at an ever-faster rate…And the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the total heat-trapping force from major greenhouse gases has increased 29 percent since 1990…

"…[S]ome say the diplomatic effort to solve the climate issue has already failed, and that the answer lies in the development of green technologies outside the U.N. process…Even in Durban, there was a growing recognition that the transition to a low-carbon economy must be underpinned by a revolution in new energy...The process now lives on, but the difficult part lies ahead: raising the targets for emissions cuts enough to slow the rise in temperatures. Right now, there are few signs suggesting that's going to happen…That means efforts to reduce emissions through national and local regulations, and in the private sector through new technologies…"