Climate talks must generate more solutions
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E-mail China Daily, November 29, 2012
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"Dear negotiators, your decisions must reflect their demands" was the message that youths conveyed to negotiators of the UN climate change conference in Doha, Qatar, from Monday to Dec 7. This year's slogan is "Count Me In". [China Daily] |
The old Chinese proverb of wanting a horse to run faster while expecting it to eat less grass may go some way in describing the complex issues facing emerging economies such as China.
The recent economic slowdown of the world's second-largest economy has raised global concerns, especially for those who enjoyed the benefits of China's robust growth, though its growth still keeps a relatively fast pace of about 7.5 percent.
Unfortunately, "carbon", instead of "GDP", is the keyword at the ongoing talks in the Qatar National Convention Center, the venue for this year's round of climate change discussions.
The meeting has about 17,000 participants. You can distinguish them by the color of the badges they wear. Pink denotes delegates, orange, media, and yellow indicates non-governmental organizations.
In contrast with the major concerns of economists and business community, the focus in Qatar is how to keep the increase in global temperature less than two degrees C, in a world confronting more frequent and intense natural disasters.
Year after year, the sluggish progress made in climate change talks can disappoint the public. The talks may even take a step back, for instance, it took a few rounds of talks to set up the Kyoto Protocol and then another few rounds for some to reject it.
Setting emission targets and mobilizing funds are two major priorities here. However, a major point is largely left unsaid: Everyone wants his counterparts to commit and compromise more.
Fairness and equality are the eternal pursuit, but in reality countries are unequally blessed in some ways, such as natural resources.
The host country, Qatar, has the world's highest carbon emissions per capita, about three times as high as the United States', about eight times China's and about seven times Europe's.
It's rare to see as many gasoline-guzzling SUVs and pickups as one does in Qatar, and taps in the convention center bathrooms offer water at a temperature too hot to wash your hands.
The less than two degrees C target is like a giant half-eaten cake, but it's the only cake in the world. Those who came first have eaten some but need more for future meals, while newcomers to the party urgently need to fill their bellies.
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