Environmental management 2

Copenhagen's summit
 Analysis
 The Copenhagen climate change summit has attracted
a great deal of attention from the international
community.
 No legally binding agreement was made so the level
of success of the conference was unclear.
 As a result there are many different opinions about the
degree of progress made on climate change policy.
 Naturally those who expected a legally-binding treaty
were disappointed and a lot of critics have dubbed the
summit a "failure." But the American president
thought differently.
 Obama said significant consensus had been made at
the summit. The Chinese government also believes
that the Copenhagen conference made positive
achievements as a result of the joint efforts of its
participants.
 Whether or not the Copenhagen conference failed is
determined by the way in which success is defined.
 Prior to the conference some countries claimed failure
in Copenhagen was not an option.
 Now they are either unwilling to admit the failure or
are attempting to blame other countries.
 No country will concede that failure was caused by its
refusal to assume responsibilities and find a suitable
comprising ground for their interests.
 Any perceived failings of the conference were due to each country's
desire to maintain economic development, an objective which is
always prioritized above safeguarding global security.
 Developed countries have a national consensus for further
development. They do not think it necessary to curtail their
development in order to fight the global warming.
 As a result, they have to make enormous efforts in upgrading
regulations and improving emission reduction technology to cut
greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining development.
 In the meantime, their net economic output may decline. If their peers
adopt the same measures, they will be under more pressure to reach
their emission reduction targets by making sacrifices.
 But some nations may find it unreasonable if a history of high
emissions levels is always used to encourage developed nations to
make concessions.
 Even if they agree to make sacrifices, they may lay down certain
conditions in order to offset periodical economic losses resulting
from emissions reduction.
 The conflict between developed countries and developing
countries is obvious. The two groups have different definitions of
the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities"
which makes allowances for developing nations and those which
do not have a history of damaging the planet.
 There is a war among nations to protect their own core interests.
In this war, the exact meaning of the principle of "common but
differentiated responsibilities" plays a significant role in trying to
achieve a legally binding emission reduction document.
 Clearly between now and 2020, China's policies will greatly
affect the world. China's absolute emission growth is still large
though the nation has made great efforts to reduce it.
 As one of world's major emitters, even the most optimistic
estimates would place China's emission growth at 75 percent of
that in 2005.
 This is why China attracted the world's attention in COP15
conference. During the conference, China claimed that the nation
prefers to take voluntary reduction actions than to accept an
international agreement.
 The international community expressed concern that while China has
greatly reduced carbon intensity, the absolute emission growth is still
large. So it is understandable the leaders of other nations sought an
international consensus on emission reduction.
 Developing countries and their populations are in the majority
worldwide. Asia is home to 5 out of 7 of the world's most
populous countries.
 Economies in Asia such as Kuwait, Singapore, Brunei and Hong
Kong have ranked the world's top 20 in per capita purchasing power
but they are just small economies.
 While China's and India's populations are the world's first and
second highest, their per capita purchasing power are only the
world's 133rd and 167th respectively. Indonesia, Pakistan and
Bangladesh rank 155th, 173rd, and 197th respectively.
 Although a small percentage of Asian countries have achieved high
living standards, most of Asia is still far from achieving
industrialization and urbanization so aspirations of development are
justified.
 Based on the aforementioned differences between developed and
developing countries, conflict is inevitable.
 The solution is to improve developing countries' development
model, change their extensive development mode, improve energy
structures, increase energy efficiency and research and develop
emission reduction technology.
 In conclusion, it is possible to control the amount of emission
growth of developing countries, particularly if they receive enough
technical and financial assistance from developed countries.
 A joint effort by the international community is the key to
continuing negotiations until an outcome is agreed by all countries.
THANK YOU
DONE BY: GROUP 2