End the Blame Game and Work Together on Solutions

A binding global climate treaty might be a long way off but what is needed is less finger-pointing and more readiness to cooperate in ensuring that effective action is taken. So says Singapore Ambassador at large and climate change negotiator Chew Tai Soo: “Technology is available for developing countries to achieve sustainable economic development. Less pollutive means of power generation are possible today with renewable energy and nuclear power, especially if financing and technology transfer from developed countries are made available.”

By Chew Tai Soo, For The Straits Times (14 January 2011):

Despite few renewable energy alternatives, Singapore is showing its green commitment by pledging to reduce its emissions by 16 per cent by 2020.

At a chance meeting recently with some friends from academia and non-governmental organisations, I was quizzed on aspects relating to climate change negotiations when they discovered I had participated at the recent conference in Cancun.

The discussion revealed much misunderstanding over climate change issues, centring on the role of developed and developing countries and the latter’s right to development.

Climate change and global warming are pressing problems for all countries. The reversal of global warming can come about only through international cooperation involving emission reductions by all – and this regrettably has proven difficult to achieve.

There is an economic cost to curbing emissions. Developing countries point inevitably to their pressing need for growth and a better life for their people.

And while the European Union, Japan and other developed countries have, since 1997, taken the lead in reducing their emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, these same countries are unwilling to take on new commitments without the United States and large developing countries doing the same.

The US, meanwhile, has taken the position that it will not take on binding legal commitments unless the major developing countries, such as India and China, do likewise.

That a binding global treaty is still a long way off does not bode well for the environment. What is needed is less finger-pointing and more readiness to cooperate in ensuring that effective action is taken.

This will require developed countries to accept their ‘historical responsibilities’ and to ‘take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof’. Developing countries, on their part, should undertake commitments in accordance with the principle of ‘their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’. The battle cannot be joined without the effort of all countries.

Do China and India and other developing countries have the right to development? The short answer is: Yes.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change recognises the ‘legitimate priority needs of developing countries for the achievement of sustainable economic growth and the eradication of poverty’. Furthermore, the developing world can do this without repeating the excesses of the West in its own industrial development, leading to the substantial concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Technology is available for developing countries to achieve sustainable economic development. Less pollutive means of power generation are possible today with renewable energy and nuclear power, especially if financing and technology transfer from developed countries are made available, as called for in the Convention.

The blame game among the different countries has made progress in this area elusive. One recurrent issue is that developed countries, having exported dirty industries to developing ones in the first instance, are now asking the latter to reduce the resultant pollution from such investments.

On their part, developed countries are quick to stress that the strict environmental laws in the West make for more costly production of materials, such as cement, and the absence of such laws in developing countries works like a magnet in the relocation of pollutive industries.

To stop the haemorrhaging of jobs, developed countries have proposed a border tax on exports from developing countries that do not meet international environmental standards. However, such tax measures will have other negative consequences on many developing countries.

Some large developing countries have proposed the idea of ‘equitable access to carbon space’ based on per capita emissions – in other words, their right to increase their per capita emissions to comparable levels attained by developed countries. This approach is not viable as it would lead to an exponential increase of carbon in the atmosphere.

Let me end with a few words about Singapore, as it has been apparent that our unique circumstances have not been fully appreciated. We are a city state with no hinterland. Our economic success and high per capita gross domestic product tend to obscure our limitations as a small country.

Singapore emits only 0.2 per cent of the global total of carbon dioxide. Even if it were possible to stop all carbon emissions here, it would not make a difference if others do nothing. Our small population and physical size make comparisons of Singapore and its emissions on a per capita basis with other countries potentially unfair.

It might be better to compare ourselves to cities such as Tokyo or London. And yet such a comparison would not be justifiable either. Unlike London, for example, which has been able to move its industries to other parts of Britain, we are limited by our 700-odd sq km of land. An even more severe limitation is that we have very few options in pursuing renewable energy sources.

Singapore is what the Convention recognises as an alternative energy disadvantaged country, dependent on fossil fuels. In our efforts to mitigate global warming, our smallness determines much of what we can do.

Despite our unique circumstances, Singapore has pledged to reduce its emissions by 16 per cent below business as usual by 2020, contingent on a legally binding agreement in which all countries implement their commitments in good faith. This is a tough target for Singapore and there will be economic and social costs to pay. But it shows our seriousness in joining the global fight against global warming.

To succeed in reducing global warming, all countries, both developed and developing, have to make a contribution.

The writer, an Ambassador-at-Large for Singapore, is the country’s former chief negotiator for climate change.

Source: www.admpreview.straitstimes.com