Gradual Carbon Squeeze to Beat Climate Deadlock, Brazil Says
An international climate agreement next year should encourage developing nations to gradually take on tighter carbon-reduction targets after 2020, helping overcome barriers to previous emission deals, according to Brazil.
Allowing progressive caps could “help break the deadlock in negotiations,” Brazil’s foreign ministry said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg on Dec. 2.
Climate talks have stalled since the 1997 Kyoto Protocol as developed and developing nations argue over the responsibility for global warming and who should bear the cost. China and the U.S. last month agreed to limit emissions to spur wider support for greenhouse-gas cuts and help keep temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels.
“Brazil saying emerging nations could take on additional responsibility is a constructive proposal,” said Martin Schoenberg, the head of policy at Bunge Ltd.’s London-based Climate Change Capital. Support for the proposal will depend on the reaction of other large nations including India, he said yesterday from Lima, Peru, where climate talks are taking place through Dec. 12.
Brazil proposed last month that all developed nations take on fixed emission limits starting in 2020. Emerging countries should curb greenhouse-gas output immediately, adopting absolute caps “over time.” Richer developing nations can offer support to the poorest countries alongside climate finance from industrialized economies, according to the proposal.
‘Differentiation Key’
“Differentiation is key to achieve the necessary level of engagement from all parties,” Brazil said in the Dec. 2 statement. Scientists estimate the world can emit not more than 1.1 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent of emissions before threatening its plan to keep temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). That’s the equivalent of about 20 years at current levels.
Brazil’s plan, which includes emissions trading and an enhanced United Nations carbon market, will increase the chance of rich and poor nations embracing climate protection, said Jeff Swartz, the international policy director at the International Emissions Trading Association in Geneva.
The UN climate talks aim to lead to a deal in Paris in December 2015 that will take effect starting in 2020, when the current limits in the Kyoto Protocol lapse.
Envoys are seeking middle ground on climate finance as well as emission-reduction effort. Rich nation assistance for mitigation and adaptation is “not adequate,” Su Wei, China’s lead climate negotiator, said today at a briefing at Lima.
Spurring Ambition
U.S. envoys have hesitated to agree on a deal unless emerging nations do too. Brazil says allowing nations to gradually embrace tighter targets will spur ambition and strengthen so-called nationally determined contributions to the planned agreement, which are expected to be tabled by March.
“The fact that it’s coming from Brazil, a highly respected country in diplomatic circles, captures the attention of a lot of people,” Swartz said yesterday from Lima. “They’ve taken a hard look at what the world looks like today and what it will look like in the future.”