Implementations of Emission Reduction Strategies as Political Research Paper - 4

Implementations of Emission Reduction Strategies as Political Decisions - Research Paper Example 7-18 December 2009 were the dates when world leaders gathered in Copenhagen to discuss the problems of climate change. The Climate Summit was the fifteenth conference of the global governments and resulted in the announcement of the Copenhagen Accord. This agreement was meant to be reached by the US and a block of BASIC – large developing – countries (China, India, South Africa, and Brazil) in regards to the measures world countries should take in order to reduce human impact on the environment and Earth atmosphere in particular. Though the Accord was outlining the major objectives of the counties cooperation with the purpose of fighting climate change, the paper did not even set any emission reduction targets. There was no information indicating a measurable way of determining each country’s impact on the prevention of temperature rise and no peaking emissions target year. Furthermore, the agreement did not even have any legally bounding force and the only resul ts the Climate Summit had was that the representatives of world countries approved taking note of the Copenhagen Accord. Many countries were opposing the methods and objectives the Accord presented (Buxton 2010) so, as a result, the US did not force the participating countries to officially accept the Accord for fulfillment. Though the document acknowledges the fact that temperature rise should be kept below 2 degrees Celsius with the help of emissions reduction, not specific goals were set for the countries to comply with the objective. Another point was that developing countries that are influenced by climate change most of all were to receive financial aid from developed countries in the period of 2010-2012 for adapting to the climate change (United Nations 2009, 3). The Accord also encourages the practice of paying developing countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (Vidal, Stratton, and Goldenberg 2009). It should also be noted that previously develop ed proposals that called the countries for limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050 were abandoned. In addition, the interesting fact is that the United States, who refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, was the major contributor to and strongest supporter of the Copenhagen Accord. The country’s motive for objecting to signing documents like the Kyoto Protocol, the purpose of which is the worldwide reduction of greenhouse gas emission, is, most likely economic. The USA is one of the largest environment polluters in the world because of the high level of economic development and great volumes of industrial production (Droge and Kemfert 2005, 246). The signing of such an agreement force the US companies to either invest in the development of environmentally friendly technologies or reduce the levels of production. Either option leads to a decrease in companies’ profit and, consequently, a decrease in the government’s tax income. Fighting the Climate Change: Trade Policies, In any case, the outcomes of the Climate Summit can, according to Droge and Kemfert (2005, 235) be explained by the fact that climate change policies are rather political decisions that have a very strong relation to international trade policy and business operations. A study conducted by Droge and Kemfert (2005, 235) is focused on the trade policies related to climate.