Today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outlined the four principles the United Nations is hoping will guide the discussions this December in Copenhagen when world leaders come together for the international climate summit. He noted “What is needed is the political will. We have the capacity. We have finance. We have the technology. The largest lacking is political will.”
The four political issues that the Secretary-General feels must be resolved in order for us to hit the scientific targets needed to avoid catastrophic climate change are:
- Industrialized countries must lead by committing to binding mid-term reduction targets on the order of 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
- Developing countries need to take nationally appropriate mitigation actions in order to reduce the growth in their emissions substantially below business as usual. Their actions must be measurable, reportable and verifiable.
- Developed countries must provide sufficient, measurable, reportable and verifiable financial and technological support to developing countries.I am talking here about new money – not re-packaged Official Development Assistance. This will allow developing countries to pursue their mitigation efforts as part of their sustainable green growth strategies and to adapt to accelerating climate impacts. This is one of the most important issues which we are going to discuss on September 22nd in New York, and this year again at the G20 Summit Meeting in Pittsburgh on September 24th.
- We need an equitable and accountable mechanism for distributing these financial and technological resources, taking into account the views of all countries in decision-making.
He also re-emphasized his slogan for the Copenhagen summit which is “Seal the Deal,” signifying his hopes that the meeting is not just a token get together, but results in tangible resolutions that will set the global community on a path towards resolving this issue.
Do you think the four goals that Secretary Ki-moon outlined are specific enough?
Are there other points that you think should be in the top four goals of Copenhagen?
Let us know in the comments section below. Thanks!
