After 12 years of commitment,
Japan shocked all of us by announcing at
the beginning of the week that they were
thinking of leaving the Kyoto Protocol!
We knew we had to work quickly to show Kyoto
that there was still some love in the house,
so along with our
tcktcktck partners, we organized a "Hug
Kyoto" event at the UN climate conference
in Cancun. There was a lot of love in the
house with hundreds of folks(including delegates)
stopping to give our Kyoto reps a hug and
take a pic.
Not sure why abandoning
Kyoto is such a bad idea? Take a read through
the questions below and if you have another
question about Kyoto, leave us a comment
and we will get a campaigner to answer.
Q – What is the Kyoto
Protocol?
A - The Kyoto Protocol is an international
agreement that sets legally binding emission
targets for 37 industrialised countries
and Europe.
Q – Why is it so important?
A – global greenhouse
gases must be reduced if we are to avoid
climate chaos and it is only fair that rich
countries, who are mainly responsible for
the current high levels, act first. The
Kyoto Protocol establishes the rules for
these industrialized country reductions
and sets out the targets and timetables
by which they must be achieved. It is a
huge step towards a truly global agreement.
Q – How long is the
Kyoto Protocol “good for?”
A – The Kyoto Protocol
is a treaty and once signed treaties are
binding for all of the parties involved.
However, The Kyoto Protocol currently binds
industrialized countries to reduce emissions
for the period 2008-2012 ( known as the
first Commitment Period).
Q - Why is Japan talking
about leaving now?
A - Unless the Kyoto
Protocol is extended for a further ‘Commitment
Period’ there will be no legal duty for
industrialized countries to cut their pollution.
It has been recognized that we need an international
agreement that can deliver the serious emission
cuts that the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) has told us are mandatory
to combat climate change. Instead of working
to strengthen the Kyoto Protocol, Japan
is using the flimsy excuse that the Kyoto
Protocol isn’t strong enough to walk away
from the commitments it has already made
and to avoid making more in the future.
+ More
COP16 Report: IT Companies
Turn Out, But Still Need to Turn it Up
Countries of the world
have converged once again to negotiate a
new global deal to tackle climate change,
one that will build on the Kyoto Protocol,
whose emission reduction commitments expire
at the end of 2012. Inability to reach a
legally binding deal last year in Copenhagen
was a setback to the clean energy economy,
making it that much more urgent that governments
in Cancun show the world they are committed
to reaching a meaningful deal that will
drive clean energy investments.
COP16 has a lot more
going on than negotiations between governments
on what to do about climate change. Events
and discussions fill the two immense cavities
of the ?“Cancunmesse”, twin exhibition halls
where NGO observers, delegates, and corporate
attendees expound daily on a range of climate
and energy topics.
Greenpeace held its
own panel discussion Friday, a conversation
with Michael Terrell, Google’s Energy Policy
Counsel, and Ray Pinto, Microsoft’s Senior
Government Affairs Manager for Europe, on
the “IT Sector & Transformative Solutions:
Evaluating the state of public and private
sector leadership”.
IT has solutions, but
who knows about them?
Information technology
has the potential to dramatically cut carbon
from other sectors of the economy and help
the world meet global emissions reductions,
thus the IT sector has an important role
to play at the international climate conference.
Policy makers need to better understand
the potential of IT solutions, and IT companies
need to advocate for policies that help
those solutions thrive and transform our
economy to run more efficiently using clean
energy.
At the event Friday,
Michael Terrell addressed the importance
of empowering consumers. “The data shows
that when people can see the spikes (in
their energy use), how much the hair dryer
pulls, for example, they use less energy.”
Five to fifteen percent is saved, he said,
just by giving people access to their home
energy data, the equivalent of taking 20
million cars off the road. Google offers
an energy management tool, Powermeter, which
feeds real-time data about your home energy
use.
Microsoft provided the
example of digital music, showing that carbon
emissions can be cut in half by buying music
online. “[IT] is an enabler, and it’s disruptive,”
said Pinto. Enabler because it is not the
silver bullet solution, but rather that
which enables other technologies and sectors
to develop more efficiently and run on clean
energy. Disruptive because IT has the power
to change our lifestyle and behavior. (And
hopefully to disrupt climate change as well.)
But how many policy
makers are currently sitting in the negotiations
thinking that if they were to approve a
global target, digital music would help
the world meet it? Companies need to provide
clear, well quantified examples of how IT
solutions can drive dramatic reductions
in other sectors, such as building and transport.
And then they need to go to government with
a policy roadmap that tells decision makers
exactly what is needed to bring those solutions
to fruition at a scale that will make a
noticeable dent in the world’s carbon problem.
Corporations are nothing if not persuasive,
but it’s time they apply that tenacity to
getting the policy frameworks in place that
will ensure the success of carbon-cutting
solutions. More show and tell.
Are IT companies prioritizing
political advocacy?
On Tuesday we will release
the fourth Cool IT ranking of IT climate
leadership here in Cancun. This is an appropriate
setting, as one-third of the evaluation
that determines a company’s rank is based
on the degree to which it uses opportunities
like COP16 to advocate for strong climate
and energy policies. ??IT Companies showed
up at COP15 in Copenhagen last year in big
numbers for the first time, but a coherent
message to governments was missing. This
year, there is also a good turn out of Leaderboard
companies in Cancun, but it’s what they
do while they’re here and when they return
home, not just showing up, that really defines
their advocacy leadership.
Strong climate and energy
policies are needed to support the growth
of IT climate solutions. “Having uncertainty
about climate change policies hinders investments
and business,” expressed Terrell. Google
supported California’s global warming legislation
during a recent attempt by oil companies
to derail it, and the company has also publicly
supported a 30% emissions reduction target
for Europe. Terrell says that Google got
behind these ambitions because clear, long-term
goals help drive investment in the clean
energy technologies.
Terrell also explained
that Google’s advocacy strategy is to weigh
in on issues that don’t otherwise have the
attention of the sector. He says Google
can have a greater impact when it steps
out from what others are doing to support
an important but overlooked priority. Perhaps
he means like the company did when it defended
California’s global warming law, which few
companies took action on, and none as aggressively
as the search giant.
Google’s advocacy track
record proves that it has a role to play
in clearing a path for other companies to
follow, but we simultaneously need to see
the entire sector working collaboratively
together in the name of its shared interests
to articulate policy goals on a very big
scale.
