Europe and Global Climate Change
The Project on Environmental Change and Foreign Policy has released its publication "Europe and Global Climate Change: Politics, Foreign Policy and Regional Cooperation".
The book is a comprehensive study on European global climate change politics. Its focus is on the formulation, ratification, and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol within Europe and how domestic foreign policy influenced the European Union's decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol despite the United States' decision to abandon the agreement.
The book provides important historical background, case studies of the most influential European countries to shape the Kyoto Protocol, and an assessment of what enlargement means for the implementation of the agreement. It also examines how Europe's policies have shaped and been shaped by participation in the Kyoto negotiation and implementation processes.
UN Security Council Debates Energy, Security and Climate Change
With scientists predicting that land and water resources will gradually become more scarce in the coming years, and that global warming may irreversibly alter the face of the planet, the United Nations Security Council this month held its first-ever debate on the impact of climate change on security, as some delegates raised doubts over whether the Council was the proper forum to discuss the issue.
Calling for a long-term global response to deal with climate change, along with unified efforts involving the Security Council, Member States and other international bodies, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that projected climate changes could not only have serious environmental, social and economic implications, but implications for peace and security, as well.
This is especially true in vulnerable regions that face multiple stresses at the same time -- pre-existing conflict, poverty and unequal access to resources, weak institutions, food insecurity and incidence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, he said. The Secretary-General outlined several alarming, though not alarmist scenarios, including limited or threatened access to energy increasing the risk of conflict, a scarcity of food and water transforming peaceful competition into violence and floods and droughts sparking massive human migrations, polarizing societies and weakening the ability of countries to resolve conflicts peacefully.
The day-long meeting, called by the United Kingdom, aimed to examine the relationship between energy, security and climate, and featured interventions from more than 50 delegations, representing imperilled island nations and industrialized greenhouse gas emitters alike. While some speakers praised the initiative, there were reservations from developing countries, which saw climate change as a socio-economic development issue to be dealt with by the more widely representative General Assembly. Many delegations also called for the United Nations to urgently consider convening a global summit on the issue.
The session was chaired by British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, whose country holds the presidency of the 15-nation Council for April. She said that recent scientific evidence reinforced, or even exceeded, the worst fears about climate change, as she warned of migration on an unprecedented scale because of flooding, disease and famine. She also said that drought and crop failure could cause intensified competition for food, water and energy.
She said that climate change was a security issue, but it was not a matter of narrow national security -- it was about our collective security in a fragile and increasingly interdependent world. By holding todays debate, the Council was not seeking to pre-empt the authority of other bodies, including the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. The decisions that they came to, and action taken, in all those bodies required the fullest possible understanding of the issues involved. [So] climate change can bring us together, if we have the wisdom to prevent it from driving us apart, she declared.
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
Within the framework of the German EU Presidency, a conference on the European initiative Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) took place this month. Together with Commission Vice-President Gόnter Verheugen the Federal Minister of Transport Wolfgang Tiefensee opened the conference titled "The Way to the European Earth Observation System GMES - Munich Roadmap".
GMES is a joint initiative of the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA). With the help of observations and data collection via satellites, measuring devices on the ground, on ships, buoys and aircraft, it is designed to provide information services on climate change and support in the event of natural disasters, starting in 2008.
The project is currently in its deployment phase. The three services in the areas of Land Monitoring, Marine and Emergency Response will be implemented first. More, for instance Atmosphere and Air Quality Monitoring will be added. The work on developing and coordinating the necessary space and ground infrastructure is making good progress.
With the help of GMES information global environmental changes can be monitored and forecasted and relevant measures can be develop at an early stage. Civil emergency installations are very much dependent, for example after earthquakes, floods, maritime accidents and other disasters, on the timely availability of up-to-date mappings for situation assessment and mission support of emergency services. Environmental, planning and transport authorities also profit to a high degree from efficient and reliable GMES services: Sustainable urban planning, for example through reduced land consumption or building in risk zones is supported by GMES.
Climate Change and Human Security
A group of scientists suggests a new way of thinking systematically about the links connecting climate change and international, national, and human security.
This month, the UN Security Council discusses climate change for the first time. Since 1999 the Security Council has addressed human security threats and challenges caused by violence and poverty.
The discussion follows the launch on 6 April 2007 of the report of the Working Group II of the IPCC that highlighted the severe impacts climate change will have during this century on humankind, especially on the poor.
Climate change undermines livelihoods and well-being of the rural and urban poor in many parts of the world, groups of people already marginalized by national policies and economic globalization. As a result, social discontent and alienation rise. In many countries such discontent has led to populist and military coups in the past. In the future such conflicts may further destabilize whole regions. Ironically, some climate change mitigation and adaptation investments such as large scale forestry and large dams may also displace people, further fueling polarization in societies. All of this is likely to be taking place as geopolitical relations are strained over scarce water resources and the stress of coping with millions of people displaced by a rising sea level.
Labeling Strategies for Sustainable Development
A leading trade union champion for sustainable development has published a book about groundbreaking work conducted in Sweden which proved that labeling can be highly-effective as a tool for sustainable development.
Per Erik Boivie served for many years as head of the TCO development unit, a part of the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO) in Stockholm. In that time, he oversaw an ambitious project to persuade computer companies to adopt the TCO label for their products, as well as a number of other sustainable development initiatives.
His book, "The Global Standard How Computer Displays Worldwide Got the TCO Logo" traces the breakthrough which resulted in computer displays around the world adopting the TCO logo as the symbol of quality, user safety and promoting the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
A New Era in Sustainable Development
A 20-year international effort to put the planet on a path to sustainable development has been woefully inadequate and will need a radical rethink if it is to achieve its aims, says the report "A New Era in Sustainable Development" published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
The report was written by Steve Bass, a senior fellow at IIED and former chief environment advisor at the UK government's Department for International Development. It is being released to mark the 20th anniversary of the influential Brundtland Commissions report Our Common Future, which first put sustainable development on the mainstream political agenda.
The IIED report calls for:
- Traditional, local and non-Western approaches to play a major role in a new, globally constructed and globally shared drive towards genuine sustainable development.
- A shift from the inviolability of economic growth to the inviolability of human well-being and environmental limits.
- Governments to account for the economic and social benefits that natural resources provide and the costs of mismanaging these environmental assets.
Determining a Fair Price for Carbon
Carbon trading is expanding rapidly, with over 100 million credits from CDM projects sold to date. Market actors, particularly those engaged in CDM, need to be on top of new trends and price dynamics.
This publication provides unique insights and in-depth analysis from traders, DNAs, legal advisers, investors, and CDM developers. It promises to become an essential guide for understanding the complex issues in determining equitable prices in CDM deals.
You can reserve a copy of this publication at the UNEP Risψ Centre.
Flemish Petition for a Sustainable and Social Economic Policy
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Brundtland Report, the Flemish Platform on Sustainable Development (VODO) has handed a petition to the Belgian government.
The petition calls for a correct manner of economic measurement for sustainable policymaking, where environmental and social indicators play a substantial role.
VODO invites people from Belgium to sign on to the petition.
Workshop on SPAC in Eastern Europe and Southern Caucasus
A three-day event took place simultaneously in Kyiv and Tbilisi from 17-19 April 2007, devoted to debating EECCA regional Sustainable Production and Consumption (SPAC) issues. The first two days in each city focused on Eastern Europe and South Caucasus issues, respectively, while Day 3 featured a distant video/satellite link (TALK) between Kyiv and Tbilisi, integrating London and Amsterdam.
The purpose of the workshop is to:
- evaluate national and sub-regional progress in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus on SPAC policy development following Kiev-2003 Environment for Europe (EfE) decisions;
- support the European Environment Bureau (EEB) EcoForum at the Belgrade 2007 Environment Ministers Conference;
- establish an NGO forum to track UN Commission on Sustainable Development SPAC cross-cutting issues to 2010 and beyond, thus bringing the EECCA countries into the international SPAC framework (Marrakech Process);
- demonstrate the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of video-conferencing for international NGO and other conferences.
IPCC Report: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC has adopted the Summary for Policymakers of the second part of the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).
"Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" finds that global warming will lead to an increased prevalence of droughts, rising sea levels, flooding rivers, large-scale extinctions of plant and animal life, and greater malnutrition and disease. The most severe impact will be on the poor, but global warming will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
The summary report contains predictions on what impacts can be expected in the future, with projections for different regions of the world, and a graphic table that shows the expected impact on water, ecosystems, food, coasts, and human health as global temperatures rise.
With a temperature rise exceeding 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius, a massive 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species is expected to be at increased risk of extinction, with major changes to ecosystem structure and function. The result will be "predominantly negative consequences for biodiversity, and ecosystem goods and services, e.g. water and food supply," according to the report.
Climate change is expected to affect the health of millions of people, with increased malnutrition; greater incidences of diarrhea; increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires and droughts; and increased frequency of cardio-respiratory disease due to higher concentrations of ground level ozone related to climate change. Europe will continue to experience the retreat of glaciers, and an increased risk of flash floods, heat waves, and droughts.
New EU Website on Green Public Procurement
The European Commission has launched a new website on Green Public Procurement. The new structure and layout offer a multitude of new and updated information on environmental purchasing in the European Union and beyond.
Stavros Dimas, EU Commissioner for Environment: "Green Public Procurement is much more than just purchasing recycled paper for offices. It is about tapping into a huge market and reducing a whole range of environmental impacts from the production, use and disposal of goods and services of all kinds."
The Commission is working on a web-based Green Public Procurement Toolkit, that will provide three modules:
- Strategic information - Why introduce Green Public Procurement? Which organizational set-up is necessary?
- The legal framework - Including numerous concrete examples.
- Examples of environmental specifications for inclusion in tender documents for the purchase of products and services that are considered most suitable for "greening" in public procurement.
New Procura+ Manual Released
Procura+ is an initiative designed to help support public authorities across Europe in implementing Sustainable Procurement and help promote their achievements.
The Campaign was established in 2004 by ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability to help drive the mainstreaming of sustainable public procurement throughout Europe. Through participating in the Campaign, public authorities can contribute to a growing international movement and help bring about real change on the market.
The Procura+ Manual is a key tool for the Sustainable Procurement campaign. By following the clear and simple advice provided in the manual, public authorities - regardless of size or level of experience - can advance towards implementing sustainable procurement practices.
UN CSD 15 Discussion Forum
The Sustainable Development Issues Network (SDIN) has created an online web-based discussion forum to allow you to share and exchange your views on the CSD 15 policy discussion.
What is your opinion on: Biofuels? Carbon off-sets? How the UN defines "sustainable energy?" The role of nuclear power? The call for increasing supply from ALL sources? Clean fossil fuels? The impacts of access? Who really benefits from big scale projects?
What countries do you think are on the right track regarding energy policy in the world today? What are the opportunities and obstacles in the discussion at UN CSD 15? How can NGOs be more effective?
Don't wait until you get to New York to start talking to each other on these important issues!
London Climate Change Action Plan
The mayor of the city of London, Ken Livingstone, has launched a plan for cutting the city's carbon emissions. The goal of the London Climate Change Action Plan is to stabilise emissions at 60 percent below 1990 levels in 2025.
The plan comprises four major programmes, in the areas of Homes, Organisations, Energy, and Transport. For instance, subsidies on loft and cavity wall insulation will be offered. Employers will have to take measures against energy waste, for example turning off lights and IT equipment at night. Steps will also be taken to switch to local and more efficient energy systems. According to Livingstone, "Londoners don't have to reduce their quality of life to tackle climate change, but we do need to change the way we live". For the plan to succeed as planned there will be no specific need for new technologies. It will, however, require the national government to change its policy on carbon pricing.
Europe's Social Reality: A Stocktaking
What is the social reality of Europe? The European Commission has launched a public consultation to take stock of present social realities and trends in European societies. The aim is to provide a snapshot of Europe's changing social reality, examining social trends and their implications and drawing out key issues and challenges for Europe at all levels. In taking up this challenge, the Commission aims to reach out to different constituencies to tap into their views on what constitutes Europe's "social reality". Views will be sought on social trends, the main factors driving Europe's social transformation, 'well-being' and the factors that contribute to it. The exercise aims at generating a wide debate and reaching out to different constituencies and citizens.
Among the issues that the European Commission will address through this consultation, is the issue of the citizen as consumer. In the age of mass affluence, individuals define themselves more by the choices they make over consumption than their role as producers. They can be both more discerning in their demands for example for healthier food or environmentally friendly products yet at the same time anxious to demonstrate through their consumption habits, their position and status. Consumption is so important to people that they are prepared to incur large consumer debts in order to sustain it. There is evidence that most of us find the 'hedonic treadmill' ultimately unsatisfying and for those who cannot keep up in the consumption race, it seems a source of stress, accentuating problems of self esteem and feelings of personal failure.
For more information about this consultation, you can read the background document.
