The “real” climate gate? Leaked internal document states United Nations aware proposals on the table won’t reach proposed target

It's being referred to as the "real" climate gate. A document was leaked earlier today from the UN Secretariat that the UN knows that the proposals will not reach the 2 degree target they've been negotiating, instead, the target is for at least three degrees Celsius.


You can see the document for yourself at the link below: (it has not been confirmed at the date of this blog post)

http://live.tcktcktck.org/wp-content/uploads/leaked-secritariat-doc-degrees.pdf



Why is this relevant? Dies 1 degree matter? French journalist Jade Lindgaard (who broke the story) and Naomi Kline discussed the relevance with Democracy Now! The video interview can be found at the link, and the beginning of the interview is included below.

JADE LINDGAARD: Yeah, a very interesting leak today from the UNFCCC secretariat showing that the targets of reduction emissions that countries now, today, are putting on the table, these targets do not allow to stay below two degree rise in temperature. And they even say that it could lead us to a rise of three degree in temperature, which is, as we know, catastrophic if that ever happens.

AMY GOODMAN: Who is writing this?

JADE LINDGAARD: This is the UNFCCC. It’s not WWF, it’s not Greenpeace, it’s not Friends of the Earth. It’s the secretariat. And it’s an internal note they’re having and they have not yet published, and which is the basis of work for the current negotiations.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you get it?

JADE LINDGAARD: It’s a leak.

AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, the significance of this?

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, sorry, I have to apologize for my voice, Amy. You guys made me come on. But it’s a metaphor, of course, because everybody’s complaining about how they’ve lost their voice in these proceedings.

This is so significant, because what this—this is the UN itself saying that if all of these countries go off and do what it is that they’re promising to do—and let’s remember, this is the US model, that rather than having targets that they must meet, they’ll be so-called national plans, so every country comes up with their own targets, and then they mash them together.

So they’ve done the math, and they’re saying if the US does what it’s saying it’s going to do, if the EU does what it’s going to do, then altogether the temperatures will increase by three degrees, which is catastrophic, because the target that they have set is two degrees, but even that, we’ve heard from Africa, would be a disaster.

JADE LINDGAARD: It’s even—it’s interesting because these figures that the UN is working on now, they are based on what—the pledges of countries. So it’s already based on what countries say they want to do. It’s not a business as usual. It’s already taking into account the effort that these countries have said they’re willing to comply to. And the truth is, it’s not enough at all. It’s not enough. So, in a way, these all negotiations and these disagreements these past few days around the two degree rise, they look like something—you know, it’s a bit like theater, because in the end it doesn’t really matter for the people. If it’s three degrees, it’s a nightmare for Africa and AOSIS.

You can see the full story at Democracy Now!