SCCF Chairman of Trustees launches debate in House of Lords
Our Chairman, Lord Stone of Blackheath, led a debate 14th January in the House of Lords, drawing attention to the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference and what needs to happen next. This debate was a success, attracting 32 speakers and engendering lively debate. Full coverage can be found here: House of Lords – Debate on the Copenhagen Conference
COP15, the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, has come and gone. Amid all the drama – the leaking of negotiation texts, developing country walk-outs over the ‘killing’ of Kyoto, the exclusion of thousands of accredited participants from the conference centre, violent demonstrations in the street, and the 4am emergency call to Ed Miliband – we now ask ourselves, what was really achieved, and where do we go from here?
Copenhagen’s iconic mermaid – Is there a low carbon future ahead of us? (Photo by Tim Holland)
What was achieved?
Within the main part of the conference, the formal negotiations between national delegations, progress was certainly made. This is illustrated by the content of the Copenhagen Accord – a document ‘noted’ at the final hour by a group representing 49 developed and developing countries, together accounting for over 80% of global emissions.
…we are not that comfortable with it.
There is clearly a disconnect, between the scientists and the public on the global warming theory; the science is difficult, it is multi-threaded, it does not lend itself to a black and white picture. Think about the CFC /Ozone Layer issue – nice, easy and one dimensional. You carry on emitting these chemicals, then the Ozone thins and eventually we all die of skin cancer. Satellite pictures even showed the ‘hole’ forming over Antarctica.
Global warming and associated climate change is a very different proposition. There are still a lot of ‘ifs’, ‘buts’ and ‘maybe thens’ and the time scales are relatively long ones. The average person will not read IPCC reports, still less the scientific papers that stand behind them. Public opinion is being formed on these matters by the press and other media. As the underlying science is not easy to grasp, this leaves the field open to the popularisers and the demagogues.
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