ANOTHER gathering of international leaders to talk about climate change has come and gone, but the world still awaits concrete actions to reverse the effects of global warming.
Last week’s UN summit on climate change, which brought 120 heads of government together and generated significant support worldwide, reflected in marches in New York and other major cities, has certainly brought fresh impetus to a start-stall negotiation process.
But will the world’s leaders follow through on the declarations made and pay heed to the ever-growing chorus of climate protesters?
The absence of the leaders of the world’s largest nations – and among the biggest contributors to global warming – speaks volumes. Although they did send representatives, President Xi Jinping of China and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were not there.
They lead more than 2.5 billion people, more than a third of the world’s population and are the biggest and third-biggest producers respectively of carbon dioxide emissions as they industrialise at a furious pace. (The US is second on the list, while South Africa is also in the world’s top 20 per capita).
The summit gave leaders a chance to signal how far they were willing to go in cutting emissions and so help the world avoid the most dangerous consequences of climate change, such as extreme droughts and storms.
World leaders have just over a year to make good on their promises when they meet again at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris where many nations and lobby groups will be pushing for a binding treaty which would require deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, requiring massive shifts away from coal, petroleum and natural gas in the industrial process and in the generation of energy.
Will the world be able to get its act together? If it fails to get the major industrial producers to commit themselves to a binding treaty, the consequences – extreme droughts, storms and the flooding of low-lying land – are likely to change the very face of the planet, wreaking immense damage.