Currently, the European Union is leading international efforts to combat climate change with the development of two major treaties addressing the issue; the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997. In March 2000, the EU Commission launched the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) which led to the adoption of a wide range of measures including the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, launched on January 1st 2005 to reduce emissions cost-effectively.
However, these actions are just an initial step and ambitious targets to reduce global emissions are needed after 2012, when Kyoto's targets expire, in order to limit global warming to 2°C. Many observers believe that it is necessary to create a global carbon price. Carbon markets have the potential to generate enormous resource transfers to developing countries through mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Technology policies are also needed which could include regulatory standards for particular sectors, investment in developing and deploying new technologies, supported by the World Bank’s Energy Investment Framework, and trade agreements to transfer low-carbon technologies to India, China and other emerging economies and developing countries(Sorce: DEFRA)
According to the Stern Review published in 2006, the worst could be prevented if global emissions can be stabilised within 20 years and thereafter reduced by around 2% per year. “What we do in the next 10 or 20 years can have a profound effect on the climate in the second half of the century and in the next” said Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank and an adviser to the British chancellor Gordon Brown. Stern also said the primary responsibility for action to cut greenhouse gas emissions lies with the rich industrialised world, which continues to produce most of the world’s emissions.
WBCSD President Bjorn Stigson commented: "We do possess realistic options for solutions. These include technologies that can create a more resource-efficient economy and can eliminate the waste from resource use, such as carbon capture and storage." He also said that we already possess the tools to implement the solutions, referring to "regulations, efficiency standards for products and processes, taxes and fees that influence the prices of resources, goods and services… all of which can involve voluntary actions by business and citizens alike."
On May 31st 2007, plans for an "International Climate Change Framework" were unveiled by President Bush who said he would convene a series of meetings of the world’s major emitters in an attempt to set long- and mid-term goals to reduce greenhouse gasses.
There are both opportunities and risks associated with climate change. To discuss your needs, please contact Climate Change Business Forum.