Opinion - News Analysis

Global warming demands urgent action

The crucial climate change negotiations in Poznan, Poland, are heading nowhere fast. Charged with producing a plan for cutting carbon emissions, governments have so far produced copious amounts of hot air and little else, with ministers recycling vague promises of future action.

They doubtless go to bed at night muttering a variant of St Augustine’s prayer: “Oh Lord make us chaste - but not just yet.” Unfortunately, this is one of those now or never moments. The conference marks the halfway point on the road map for negotiating a new UN climate convention. It is supposed to prepare the ground for a global grand bargain aimed at tackling the greatest challenge that humanity has faced. Put starkly, Poznan must head off a collision between the energy systems that drive our economies, and the Earth’s biosphere. Ambitious targets must be at the heart of any agreement. But we also need a new institutional architecture for cooperation between rich and poor countries.

If we are to have any chance of keeping global temperature increases below a 2{+0}C tipping point, greenhouse gas emissions will have to fall by over 50 per cent by 2050. On current trends, they will rise by 50 per cent by 2030. Such an outcome would lead to unprecedented reversals in human development in our lifetime followed in short order by ecological catastrophe for future generations. Economies can recover from a financial crisis. But there is no antidote or rewind button for global warming.

At Poznan, rich countries should be taking the lead. They need to signal a binding commitment to reducing their carbon footprint by at least 80 per cent. More than that, they need to signal serious intent. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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