« Be sure of that, all the coal will be burned »
Copenhague 13/12/2009
That’s what we have heard from one of the French official delegates that we met two days ago here in the Bella Center, a frightening sentence that reveals an inconvenient truth: no official delegate speaks about reducing oil, coal, and gas consumption during the COP15 plenary sessions!<!--more-->
Believe it or not but even if this issue is crucial to solve climate change it is a taboo in those negotiations. While climate change is urging us for action, during this past four years, national delegates have been spending so much time speaking on how to count forest carbon storage, or on industrial capture and carbon storage systems, but not on how to move on to a fossil fuel free world! Today, Yves Cochet a French green deputy reminded us during an informal chat that “the best way to store carbon in the soil, is not to put it out!”
“Let the oil in the soil! Change the system, not the climate!” we were saying yesterday with thousands of people in Copenhagen streets! Why the countries’ delegates are having such a hard time in reaching an agreement to avoid climate change? Well, it is probably because reducing annual green house emissions to 90% in 2050 implies a drastic decrease in fossil fuel consumption and thus a drastic system change.
I had the chance to question Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, the head of the IPCC on this issue today. His answer was, yes, countries might be beating about the bush while focussing on non fossil energy related issues, but in the end, if they commit to the necessary emission reductions, they will have to deal with it, to reduce consumption. Therefore if we ensure that rich countries do not escape from their responsibilities and do not set accounting carbon tricks, they will definitely have to let the oil in the soil. So… keep the pressure on!
Benoit
That’s what we have heard from one of the French official delegates that we met two days ago here in the Bella Center, a frightening sentence that reveals an inconvenient truth: no official delegate speaks about reducing oil, coal, and gas consumption during the COP15 plenary sessions!<!--more-->
Believe it or not but even if this issue is crucial to solve climate change it is a taboo in those negotiations. While climate change is urging us for action, during this past four years, national delegates have been spending so much time speaking on how to count forest carbon storage, or on industrial capture and carbon storage systems, but not on how to move on to a fossil fuel free world! Today, Yves Cochet a French green deputy reminded us during an informal chat that “the best way to store carbon in the soil, is not to put it out!”
“Let the oil in the soil! Change the system, not the climate!” we were saying yesterday with thousands of people in Copenhagen streets! Why the countries’ delegates are having such a hard time in reaching an agreement to avoid climate change? Well, it is probably because reducing annual green house emissions to 90% in 2050 implies a drastic decrease in fossil fuel consumption and thus a drastic system change.
I had the chance to question Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, the head of the IPCC on this issue today. His answer was, yes, countries might be beating about the bush while focussing on non fossil energy related issues, but in the end, if they commit to the necessary emission reductions, they will have to deal with it, to reduce consumption. Therefore if we ensure that rich countries do not escape from their responsibilities and do not set accounting carbon tricks, they will definitely have to let the oil in the soil. So… keep the pressure on!
Benoit