It is really interesting to see how big developing countries want to see United States’ actions on climate change first and then they will be following. But at the same time, United States is waiting to see what plans major developing countries will offer. India even challenged to the West by saying: “ You do the best you can, and we’ll match it.”
The strategy of taking “common yet differentiated responsibilities” was ill-defined in the early stage. Developing countries at that time were not able to commit any greenhouse gases reduction because development was the priority and it conflicted with being sustainable. So it was first interpreted as the OECD countries would take the burden of emissions reductions and there was no need for developing countries to participate in it. But as the earth is burning and so many catastrophies caused by climate change have happened, this is not the case any more.
In John Whalley and Sean Walsh’s article “Bring the Copenhagen Global Climate Change Negotiations to Conclusion”, they mentioned two different interpretations of “common yet differentiated responsibilities” that are prevailing now. One is that developing countries should receive financial compensation for taking commitments of emissions reductions. The other one is different countries take differential commitments between emissions intensity and emissions levels. The issue will be further discussed in the Copenhagen negotiation.
China and the climate change crisis
China and the climate change crisis 2
It is developing countries’ hope for “common yet differentiated responsibilities” to be effective. Without a doubt, developing countries need to make economic growth and to create a better standard of living for its people. The videos I embeded in the post are talking about China’s balance between economic development and the environmental crisis. China is one of the developing countries that have been developing very rapidly over the past decades. It is introduced in the interview that seventy percent of China’s industrial development depends on coal which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. China is consuming energy at the rapid pace but it is rather difficult to control energy consumption when development is essential at the same time. However, this does not mean that China, or any other developing country, has not realized the seriousness of climate change. China has stated its position on the issue by expressing that “Any future arrangement on climate change should continue to follow the principles of common yet differentiated responsibilities established in the Convention, addressing climate change within the framework of sustainable development, equal treatment of mitigation and adaptation, and effectively solve the problem of financing and technology which the developing country parties are most concerned.” And this is probably the voice of all the developing countries.
Some developing countries are acused for having small amount of historical gases emissions compared with developed countries and low emissions per capita, and the fact of developed countries being the major contributor to climate change is neglected. This is not fair. The purpose for doing this is to give those developing countries more pressures so they would make commitments on emissions reduction. But by enforcing quantitative emissions reduction, it would limit developing countries’ development. Poverty results in rapid population growth which is one of the main factors that cause the environmental problems for developing countries.
It is interesting that in the report, the authors also discussed about liabilities of emissions reduction. In both the report and the videos, it is said that almost one third of China’s greenhouse gas emissions relate to exports. Whether this should be the liabilities of the countries that enjoy the final goods from the production is a question that needs to be further explored, but it is definitely not fair to blame it on China.
Up to this point, most of the nations have reached the consensus that the strategy of “common yet differentiated reponsibilities” should be taken, but the question now is how. I am hoping the answer will be found out during the Copenhagen negotiation this coming december.
Tags: China, climate change, Common yet differentiated responsibilities
