Community | May 25, 2012 | 20 comments

Who will pay for climate change? - Copenhagen

source: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/12/09/who-will-pay-for-climate-change-copenhagen/

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afitzgerald
That's reportedly the big question at Copenhagen right now. Yesterday there was the leak of the "Danish text" - purportedly an early draft of what could be the final climate agreement at Copenhagen as prepared by unnamed representatives from rich countries. The text was so unacceptable to delegates from developing countries that they took to the streets. (And, they weren't the only ones that were mad: it also cost Leah an interview!) But why?

It comes down to rich vs. poor (developed vs. developing). Big, rich countries like the US emit lots of carbon and, importantly, have done so for a very long time. But, they're also leading the charge into reducing emissions. Less wealthy developing countries, like many of those in the African delegation, are just getting to the point of economic productivity where they're going to start needing more and more electricity. But they're not yet to the point where they have whole industries dedicated to reducing emissions. Additionally, when the climate change s**t hits the climate change fan - developing countries expect they'll be the worse off with the least resources to deal with it.

Back to the "Danish text". What made this so offensive to developing countries was that it treated rich and poor countries equally. Or at least more equally than was palatable. And we're all about equality right? No, not at Copenhagen we're not. A group of 123 developing countries calling themselves the "G77 plus China"(...I don't know how the math works) want developed countries to make bigger cuts in emissions and to pledge a sizable chunk of money to help them out in the aforementioned s**t/fan scenario. How much money? The "Danish text" offered $10 billion. The NYTimes reports the number is probably in the hundreds of billions.

All of this to say - the debate about how to tackle climate change seems to have quickly become about footing the bill.

FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/12/09/who-will-pay-for-climate-change-copenha...

SOURCES: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/09/copenhagen-summit-danish-text-...
http://blogs.current.com/green/2009/12/09/well-do-it-live-and-the-african-civil-...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/science/earth/09cost.html?ref=world
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20 comments // Who will pay for climate change? - Copenhagen

  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • 50 years of ecology education wiped out by an e-mail... Thanks Mindfuck Inc. !

      The climate denial industry is out to dupe the public. And it's working
      Think environmentalists are stooges? You're the unwitting recruit of a hugely powerful oil lobby – I've got the proof
      http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/dec/07/climate-change-den...

      PS : Cap & trade and melting ice caps /permafrost are 2 different dossier !
      Please show enough intellectual honesty to treat them accordingly for blurring the line only adds to the confusion & who do you think this serves better ?
      "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." - Noam Chomsky

    • 2 years ago
  • snaganalf
  • bushama
    • 0
      bushama  

    • Why should people who dont believe CO2 is bad be forced to pay if you believe and want to pay taxes on co2 I have no problem with that.

    • 2 years ago
  • JohnA
    • 0
      JohnA  

    • One good thing about Obama, he can just promise them the world on a string, that everything in heaven and on earth will all be right and just, and then just not do a damn thing about it. Got him elected.

    • 2 years ago
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  

    • This is a Global Scam to transfer the money from the most civilized nations into the pockets of the most corrupt, ignorant, morally corrupted, leaders in the World. Most of which reside on the African Continent. These leaders have abused their people for thousands of years and now propose to steal from nations outside of their national boundaries, not for their people , but for their individual gain. They cannot rise to the Western concept of civilization, so they now prey on the guilt that the successful feel for the, incompetent and failed societies of the World. Why don't we all slide back into the quagmire and see who dominates after 100,000 years. It will not be the third world hunter gathers, taking multiple wives, fathering multiple children, while remaining true to their selfish natures.

    • 2 years ago
  • ahappymintleaf
    • 0
      ahappymintleaf  

    • I'm probably very wrong about this, but shouldn't this be put on the back of the large corporations responsible for getting us into this mess just as much as any government? Responsibility should mirror the history of pollution each entity has produce as much as present-day waste production.

    • 2 years ago
  • rodstradamus
    • 0
      rodstradamus  

    • http://www.popoffsets.com/
      We will pay for this Ponzi Scheme through the sterilization of the third world population, by a eugenicist agenda, posing as tree-huggers, when they really want to deindustrialize the western world, continue to plunder the third world and control populations and natural resources, as well as gov'ts, banks, media, corporations, science, religion and education. Its the greatest scam in history.

    • 2 years ago
  • ahappymintleaf
    • 0
      ahappymintleaf  
    • rodstradamus:

      so THAT's what the argument against climate change really is.

      well. i don't think educating women and providing condoms is necessarily eugenics. all races and all cultures need both of these factor introduced as soon as possible, except Japan. and i have to disagree with the organization on the point that overpopulation will drain on the scarcity of resources available on this planet first and foremost, though it's equally important.

      i don't know of any environmentals that want to deindustrialize the west, though. big business has already done that. industry and harmful waste don't have to go hand in hand. i'd be much happier if each country was the primary resource of raw materials and producer of consumable goods for their own citizens, or at least for this to be as real as possible. local renewable energy would help bring this about.

      i really can't talk about the rest though because i don't know your reasoning behind your argument.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
  • twohawks
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • LOL YEAH !

      Taking money from the poorest of rich countries & giving it to the richest of the poor countries ;)

      Again...

      PRIVATIZE THE PROFITS & SOCIALIZE THE COST

      Worked for the banks, will work for healthcare & climate change too :)

    • 2 years ago
  • snaganalf
    • 0
      snaganalf  

    • Everyone knows this is just a big friggin international welfare scam anyways. Just a means for the "developing" countries to get their hands in the "developed" countries pockets.

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • We're already paying for it. And not necessarilly only monetarily, but leave it to us humans to degrade this down to money only. Let's face it , if we don't have what it takes as a species to come together to solve this we don't then deserve to have a sustainable planet to live on.

    • 2 years ago
  • Brazil617MA
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • Corpo-supremacists make their move on climate change...

      The secret draft climate agreement leaked to the Guardian newspaper yesterday sets unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050. This means that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much as those in poor countries. The document also proposes a $10 billion a year fund to help developing nations cut emissions and tackle the effects of climate change. But the fund is far smaller than what many delegates
      http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/9/naomi_klein_and_martin_khor_on

      Naomi Klein's blog from Copenhagen
      http://www.thenation.com/blogs/copenhagen

      Naomi Klein kick-starts the activism at Copenhagen with call for disobedience
      http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/dec/08/naomi-klein-activism

      “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous“ - Carl Sagan

    • 2 years ago
  • JohnA
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image
    • JohnA:

      PRIVATIZE THE PROFITS & SOCIALIZE THE COST

      1ST RULE OF ENGAGEMENT FOR CORPO-SUPREMACISTS

      Worked for the banks, will work for healthcare & climate change ;)

      "Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that The State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied." : Arthur Miller

      Most Americans would rather die (or kill) than lose their most precious possession - which is their ignorance (and hypocrisy).

      MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR HYPOCRISY
      http://mtwsfh.blogspot.com/

    • 2 years ago
  • Jenime
  • rodstradamus
  • mario_a
    • 0
      mario_a  
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    • Jenime:

      What Jenime has pointed to is actually a bug involving our tag system. We're working on a fix to this, and I can assure you that these tags are in no way being censored. You'll note that "Danish Text" and "Climategate" both appear as tags on this very item, and there are many other articles tagged with these two tags.

      This unfortunate bug fails to refresh and display tags in a timely fashion after they've been added. We're working diligently on a fix for this.

      Here's my original response:

      http://current.com/items/91645598_current-censorship.htm#91645786

    • 2 years ago
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